- China is the fastest growing outbound tourism market in the world. Chinese travellers are important to us and we want to provide an easy to use and familiar tax refund payment method in our Refund Offices, says Casimir Ehrnrooth, Managing Director of Global Blue Finland Oy.
Alipay is the newest of Global Blue’s several tax refund payment methods.
Helsinki Airport is among the first airports in Europe to accept AliPay.
- In addition to AliPay, tax refunds are paid also in cash or to credit card so everyone can find the most convenient option, Ehrnrooth reminds.
Global Blue aims to offer smooth and most user-friendly tax refund service at Helsinki Airport. Global Blue Refund Offices are located in the arrivals hall and at the gate area. Beside those, travellers can also use a Global Blue Self Service Kiosk.
In addition to Helsinki Airport, Global Blue pilots the service at Malpensa and Munich airports.
AliPay at Helsinki Airport among the first in Europe
The first commercial operators at Helsinki Airport adopted the Chinese AliPay mobile payment application in December 2016. Helsinki Airport is among the first airports in Europe to accept AliPay.
AliPay can now be used to pay at the airport’s Iittala, M-Box, Finspiration, Lindroos and Moomin shop outlets. Finavia's intent is to have all airport's commercial operators accepting AliPay.
Chinese are the fastest growing passenger group at Helsinki Airport.
- We work in close cooperation with our commercial partners to develop the customer experience. AliPay has been received very well, and we encourage businesses to enable it. If the biggest commercial operators at the airport come along, the amount of outlets accepting AliPay will increase tenfold at once, Helsinki Airport Commercial Director Elena Stenholm from Finavia says.
AliPay is a part of world’s largest online trading company Alibaba. AliPay is China's leading mobile payment giant which has over 400 million users according to its own website.
Finavia is investing heavily in services targeted especially for Chinese passengers. Chinese are the fastest growing passenger group at Helsinki Airport.
Source: Global Blue press release 24.1.2017
