[THE INVESTOR] Seoul’s popular shopping district Myeong-dong topped the list of transaction volume by China’s Alipay users during the recent holiday season, the company announced on Oct. 10.

During the “National Day Golden Week” starting Oct. 1, Chinese tourists spent 1,979 yuan (US$286) per person on average with Alipay around the world. In Korea, they spent on average 3,320 yuan, the highest in Asia, but in Myeong-dong, the volume was 3,396 yuan per person, according to the payment unit of e-commerce giant Alibaba. 

The overall transactions during the period increased 2.2 times from the same period last year, the company said, while that in Korea was up by 90 percent on-year.

“The transaction volume in Korea is continuously increasing along with the overall growing overseas use by 700 million Alipay users. The Korean unit is expanding the payment network to add more restaurants, popular tourists destinations and public transportation to make the user experience more convenient,” said Chung Hyung-Kwon, head of the region at Alibaba Korea.

By Park Ga-young (gypark@heraldcorp.com)