The Philippines is taking another step towards more connected digital payments after Philippine Payments Management Inc. (PPMI) and Ant International’s Alipay+ enabled Alipay+ on QR Ph. The partnership allows international consumers to use their home e-wallets and banking apps to scan and pay at QR Ph-accepting merchants across the country. For merchants, the key benefit is that they can accept payments from Alipay+ partner wallets through their existing QR Ph codes, without needing to set up a separate payment system.
The move gives QR Ph a direct link to a much wider international payment network. Alipay+ says it connects more than 2 billion consumer accounts, over 50 mobile payment providers and more than 10 national payment switches across more than 220 markets. The platform is also now connected to more than 10 national QR schemes across Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.
Turning QR PH into a gateway for global consumers
For Philippine businesses, particularly micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, the partnership can make it easier to serve foreign visitors. A tourist can continue to use the payment app they already know, while the local merchant can continue using its existing QR Ph code. This removes one of the main barriers to cross-border digital payments, where merchants often need to support several payment methods to serve customers from different countries.
The timing is also important because digital payments are already becoming a major part of everyday commerce in the Philippines. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ 2025 e-payments measurement report found that digital payments accounted for 64.69% of retail transaction volume, while QR Ph transaction volume increased more than 13 times during 2025. The Alipay+ connection therefore builds international acceptance on top of a payment network that is already growing quickly at home.
PPMI said the connection can help local businesses use digital payments not only to collect money, but also to reach new customers and benefit from cross-border commerce. This is particularly relevant for smaller businesses that may not have the resources to build separate payment links for every international wallet.
Chinese tourists add to the opportunity
Chinese visitors are an important part of this opportunity. The Philippines recorded 5,865,319 foreign visitor arrivals in 2025, based on data from the Department of Information and Communications Technology’s eTravel system. China accounted for 4.56% of total visitor arrivals, which puts the number of Chinese visitors at roughly 267,000 for the year.
The recovery of Chinese tourism was still incomplete in 2025. As of 20 December 2025, the Philippines had recorded 262,144 arrivals from China, making China the country’s sixth-largest source market at that point. The Department of Tourism said the recovery had been affected by visa issues, security concerns and limited air connectivity, although the resumption of the Philippine e-Visa in November 2025 was expected to support stronger arrivals.
This creates a clear use case for Alipay+. Chinese visitors can use Alipay while travelling, while the wider Alipay+ network also supports payment apps from other markets. As international travel to the Philippines grows, QR Ph can become more than a domestic payment rail by giving overseas consumers a familiar way to pay at local shops, restaurants, hotels and other businesses.
From digital wallets to agentic payments
The partnership also comes at a time when Ant is expanding beyond conventional mobile payments and developing AI-powered payment services. Alipay’s AI Pay, launched in 2025, allows AI agents to help complete payments, bringing payment capabilities directly into AI-led shopping and service journeys. The technology has already been used with retailers such as Luckin Coffee and with AI-enabled devices such as Rokid smart glasses.
The scale of AI Pay has been notable. During the week of 5–11 February 2026, Alipay AI Pay processed more than 120 million transactions, making it the first AI agentic payment service to reach that level, according to Ant Group. By 23 February 2026, AI Pay had also surpassed 100 million users.
These figures show how quickly payments are moving from a simple action that consumers perform themselves towards services where AI can help search, select and complete purchases. For Alipay+, this points to a broader role than simply connecting wallets. Its infrastructure can help link consumers, merchants and payment providers as commerce becomes more digital and increasingly driven by AI.
What the partnership means for the Philippines
The PPMI-Alipay+ connection gives the Philippines a way to build international payment acceptance into an existing national QR system rather than creating a separate network for foreign visitors. For consumers, it means they can pay with a familiar wallet. For merchants, it means access to international customers without having to manage multiple QR systems.
The bigger opportunity is therefore not simply faster payments for tourists. It is the creation of a bridge between the Philippines’ growing digital payment market and the wider global digital economy. With QR Ph transaction volumes rising rapidly, more than 2 billion consumer accounts connected through Alipay+, and Chinese tourism showing signs of recovery, the partnership could help Filipino businesses capture more spending from international visitors while preparing the country’s payment infrastructure for the next stage of digital and AI-led commerce.
