Vietnam: Zalopay Shops Now Accept Tourists’ Alipay, Toss and Thai Bank Apps via VietQR Global
Vietnamese e-wallet Zalopay is opening its merchant QR codes to foreign tourists, so a visitor from Seoul or Bangkok can pay at a Zalopay shop by scanning with the banking or wallet app they already use at home. The move runs on VietQR Global, a cross-border extension of Vietnam’s national QR standard, and comes as the country welcomes record numbers of international visitors.
Key facts
- Zalopay, the payments arm of Vietnamese tech group VNG, announced on 6 November 2026 that it has rolled out VietQR Global at its accepting merchants nationwide.
- Visitors can pay with apps from China (Alipay and UnionPay), South Korea (Toss, NAVER Pay, GLN and Hana Bank), Thailand (apps from Bangkok Bank, Kasikornbank, Krungthai, SCB and CIMB Thai) and Cambodia and Laos (including Bakong and ACLEDA).
- Merchants keep their existing QR code and need no new hardware; according to Zalopay, its VietQR Global service has been live since 1 August 2026.
- Zalopay says it plans to add Singapore, India, Taiwan, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.
- Vietnam received about 12.3 million international arrivals in the first half of 2026, up almost 15% year on year, with South Korea and China the two biggest source markets.
How VietQR Global works
VietQR is Vietnam’s common QR code standard for bank transfers and merchant payments, run through NAPAS, the national payment switch. VietQR Global lets approved foreign apps read those same codes. The tourist scans, sees the amount and pays from their home account in their own currency, while the shop is credited in Vietnamese dong (VND). There is no need to swap cash at a money changer, download a local app or open a Vietnamese bank account.
Zalopay is not the first to plug in. Payment firms Payoo and 9Pay have already shown or added VietQR Global at their merchant points this year. What Zalopay adds is reach: it is one of Vietnam’s largest e-wallets, and its QR stickers are common at cafés, food stalls and small shops, the kind of merchants that often lack card terminals. Among the outlets Zalopay named are cafés and casual restaurants, rather than big hotels or malls.
Why it matters
For merchants, the appeal is simple. One QR code now serves both local and foreign customers, and payments land in dong, so the shop does not carry exchange-rate risk. Payment firms in Vietnam pitch this as cheaper than accepting international cards, though Zalopay did not publish its merchant fees.
For visitors, it removes a familiar pain point. Many travellers from Korea, China and Thailand rarely carry cash at home and prefer their own apps abroad. With Korea and China supplying the most visitors to Vietnam, supporting Toss, NAVER Pay and Alipay covers a large share of tourist spending.
For the region, it is another sign of how Asia’s QR payment links are spreading beyond central bank pilots into everyday shops. ASEAN countries have spent several years connecting their national QR systems, and Vietnam is now pushing that connectivity down to the street-stall level through private wallets.
There is also a link to Malaysia. Zalopay already lets its own users scan QR codes when they travel to Malaysia, and the wallet lists Malaysia among the next markets it wants to bring in for inbound payments. If that happens, Malaysian tourists could pay at Zalopay merchants with apps they use at home, matching the outbound option Vietnamese travellers already have.
What to watch
- Next markets: whether Malaysia, Singapore, Japan and India are switched on, and which local apps join.
- Costs: whether Zalopay or NAPAS publish merchant fees and exchange rates for tourist payments, which will decide how attractive this is against cards.
- Rivals: how MoMo, VNPay and the banks respond as the race for tourist spending heats up ahead of the year-end peak season.
Read more: ASEAN cross-border QR payments hit a record · DuitNow explained
Sources: Thanh Nien (Nov 2026), 9Pay (Sep 2026), SGGP (Jun 2026), VOV (Sep 2025), Viet Nam News (Jul 2026)
