Chinese payment platform Alipay has signed deals with 10 overseas airports to introduce the service throughout their facilities, as the growing desire to travel internationally among Chinese consumers powers demand for the platforms international expansion.

Alipay, whose platform offers services ranging from bill payment to money transfers, already works with over 80,000 merchants worldwide and is rapidly expanding in a number of international markets including the US, Asia and Western Europe.

Ant Financial, the affiliate of eCommerce giant Alibaba which runs Alipay, is focusing on areas favoured by Chinese travellers, enabling retailers to provide tourists with a familiar mobile and online payment system. Last year, 120m Chinese consumers travelled internationally, spending $104.5bn (£80.5bn).

While Alipay has not confirmed which airports have inked deals with the company, it is expected they will include travel hubs in South Korea, the US and Europe.

Ant Financial has also recently bought a stake in popular Indian digital wallet Paytm, which has expanded to more than 140m registered users over the past year, and is in talks with the Reserve Bank of India over increasing its offerings.

Alipay has long dominated online payments in China, but is facing increasing competition domestically from rival Tencent and its WeChat payment system, which is integrated into the popular messaging app.