Australian enterprise bank Tyro signed a deal with Alipay to allow more than 20,000 businesses the facility to accept payments from the Chinese payment giant’s customers.

Chinese visitors to Australia and New Zealand are already able to pay for goods and services at 10,000 locations using Alipay. However, the deal with Tyro – hailed as the first business banking deal Alipay has signed in country – will triple the number of merchants able to accept the payment method.

Tyro CEO Robbie Cooke said the deal would specifically benefit those in the hospitality and retail sectors. It expects to make the functionality available in Q2 2019.

Figures from the Australian trade ministry showed 1.4 million tourists from China visited Australia in the year to end-February 2018. Analyst figures cited by Tyro and Alipay suggest Chinese tourists would increase their spending if Alipay was more widely accepted in their holiday destinations.

Alipay Australia and New Zealand country manager George Lawson said: “Australian businesses have been calling out for their banks to partner with Alipay to improve their exposure to the rapidly expanding Chinese visitor market so it’s pleasing to see Tyro take the lead on this and give their merchants access to new customers and incremental revenues.”