Invitation to join SDTA, Brand USA Alipay Launch Promotion 3/15/19

The SDTA has entered into an exciting promotion with Brand USA and Alipay to help attract more Chinese visitors to the destination, and you’re invited to participate on March 15th during the following time slot: 1:00pm-2:00pm

In 2018, 3.2 million Chinese visited the US and spent approximately $8.8 billion, and that number is expected to grow in 2019.

This opportunity partners the SDTA with Brand USA, Visit California, San Francisco Travel and Alipay. Alipay is China’s largest mobile wallet with nearly a billion active users.

Alipay is creating an Ambassador program to allow Chinese visitors to have a seamless, cashless experience while in the US. We are incredibly excited that San Diego has been selected along with San Francisco as the two initial launch markets.

In order to activate this groundbreaking opportunity, we need Members to consider adding Alipay as an accepted payment method at their venues. Once we activate San Diego businesses on the Alipay platform, the SDTA team will create San Diego itineraries to promote to Chinese visitors.

You are invited to a brief one-hour presentation to learn more about Alipay, ask questions and hopefully join this new initiative. Because Alipay is tied to your point of sale system, we highly encourage you to bring the decision-maker from your organization to expedite the process.

The program will culminate in a marketing campaign to drive summer visitation with the option to include a fall activation as well.

Benefit for San Diego

·     - Coordinated promotional campaigns from Alipay, Brand USA, Visit California, SDTA and San Francisco Travel featuring our destination.

·     - Increase in Chinese travelers, an important market the SDTA has been targeting.

·     - Increased length of stay by offering Chinese visitors more activities to participate in during their trip

Benefit for Members

·     - Make your business more prepared for Chinese customers

·     - Opportunity to be featured in San Diego itineraries promoted to Alipay users

·     - Alipay discover platform allows businesses to reach consumers directly in-app

·     - No merchant chargebacks

For questions contact:

Brian Hilemon, Director of Marketing Partnerships • [email protected] • (619) 557-2867