Grab just made a move to steal Chinese tourists away from Uber

Two of the 120 million tourists that ventured outside China in 2015. Photo credit: Chinese Tourists.

China’s globe-trotting tourists – all 120 million of them – last year spent about US$215 billion abroad. It’s up just over 50 percent from 2014.

On-demand transport app Grab wants a part of the action. The Uber arch-rival today announced that it’s allowing Chinese tourists to pay for rides using Alipay, China’s top mobile wallet app. It allows the travelers to “use a payment method they are familiar with, go cashless, and pay in Renminbi,” says Grab’s Joel Yarbrough.

Grab’s Alipay tie-up doesn’t solve the hassle in signing up for a new app.

Starting today, it’s available for Grab rides in Singapore and Thailand. It’ll arrive in Grab’s other markets – Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines – at a later date.

But Grab is playing catch-up to Uber.

Uber last month added Alipay as a global payment option for Chinese tourists, allowing them to avoid the hassle of credit card payments in a foreign currency or fiddling with cash just like in an old-skool taxi.

Grab’s Alipay tie-up doesn’t solve the issue of the hassle involved in signing up for a new app that you’ll only use for, like, a week. A Chinese person who already has Uber on his or her phone would still be better off using Uber whilst on vacation.

Alipay, a spin-off from Alibaba, is perhaps an unusual ally of Uber. Alibaba is a major investor in Didi, one of the ride-hailing apps that have formed an anti-Uber alliance by working together in many ways. Grab is another of the alliance’s members.