Alipay will enter Europe in summer of 2016

Alipay, the mobile payment app operated by Alibaba’s affiliate Ant Financial, plans to launch in Europe this summer, enabling Chinese tourists to pay for goods and services abroad. Alibaba hopes to extend the app to 2bn people worldwide as part of the company’s 5-10 year vision, according to Sabrina Peng, President of Alibaba International, speaking at this week’s Money 2020 FinTech Conference in Copenhagen. Alipay has already attracted 450m Chinese customers, making it one of the most popular payment platforms alongside its rival WeChat from Tencent Holdings. The World Travel and Tourism Council suggests that Chinese tourists spent $215bn abroad in 2015, up 53% from 2014. Ant Financial estimates that Alipay was the app of choice for 120m people abroad last year and now processes 170m global transactions per day.

Alipay, the payment app run by Alibaba's affiliate Ant Financial, is launching in Europe to allow Chinese tourists to pay for things abroad, in its biggest push out of Asia yet. The app will recognize where the Chinese Alipay user is in Europe and send notifications about where to eat, shopping offers and places to see. There are also user reviews on the app. When a user attempts to pay, a barcode will be shown on a person's device which the merchant can scan. Alipay is one of China's biggest payment services and competes with Tencent's WeChat Payment. Alipay is deeply ingrained in the lives of Chinese consumers and is used to pay for items in-store and online for goods and services ranging from taxis to restaurants and clothing. Alibaba is hoping that its active Alipay users, which now total 450 million, according to the company, will continue to use the app abroad allowing the company to take advantage of the increasing number of Chinese tourists who are spending more. "The vision is targeting two billion people within next five to ten years, not only in China but other countries too," Sabrina Peng, president of Alipay International, told CNBC at the Money 2020 fintech conference in Copenhagen on Tuesday.

Partnerships key

Chinese tourists spent $215 billion abroad last year, a 53 percent rise from 2014, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council. Alipay is hoping that much of this spending will be through its app.

Ant Financial said that Alipay was used by 120 million users abroad last year and told CNBC that globally, it now processes 170 million transactions per day.

Zhang Peng | LightRocket | Getty Images