Ant International’s new AI travel companion – Alipay+ Voyager – combines agentic AI capabilities with the convenience of digital wallet payments.
The new AI-powered Alipay tool is designed to enhance travel experiences like itinerary planning, accommodation booking, exploring local services and locations, and in-trip purchases via an embedded AI interface integrated within Asia’s biggest mobile wallets and super apps.
The proactive Voyager travel agent offers end-to-end support to tourists and business travelers at both the planning stage and during travel activities like ride-hailing, dining, or sightseeing. It leverages Alipay+’s vast ecosystem, which includes over 35 e-wallets, 1.7 billion user accounts, and more than 100 million merchants globally.
Alipay+ Voyager connects travelers to local services like transport, shopping, and dining in real-time, proactively curating hyper-personalized suggestions and solutions based on user preferences. Its proactive approach differs from typical travel aggregator platforms: based on predictive AI, the agent suggests activities and booking options even before the traveler requests it. Besides, local services will be available in users’ local language and currency, without a need to download any new platforms or apps. The tool can autonomously alter the itinerary in a changing environment too. For instance, it can rebook the hotel or train ride during some delays.
For merchants and OTAs, Voyager acts as a growth gateway, enabling instant access to global travelers through a single integration across leading e-wallets. It helps unify fragmented ecosystems of multiple markets and saves some integration costs.
Unlike traditional travel apps or aggregators, the AI agent assistant will be embedded into payment apps travelers already use, starting with three major ones:
- Alipay: operates mainly in the Chinese mainland, has around 660 million monthly active users in China and about 1.3–1.4 billion globally, processes approximately $20T in transaction volume per year;
- AlipayHK: covers Hong Kong SAR and China, has over 4.2 million active users in Hong Kong, the wallet’s merchant acceptance has expanded from 50,000 in its first year to over 100,000 by 2022;
- GCash: operates in the Philippines, has over 8o million active users, processes around $5.4 billion monthly.
The e-commerce and payment company rushed to add AI agent support to its most popular digital wallets ahead of the predicted summer travel peak. All other Alipay+ payment partners in emerging markets will join the initiative later this year. Moreover, the Alipay+ Wallet Tech team plans to expand the variety of available agentic AI suites customized for different industries on Alipay+ GenAI Cockpit, the firm’s main AI platform designated for fintechs.
