Alipay's Abao Adds Travel Partners as Ant Pushes Agent Commerce

Han said at the event that Ant wants to be a catalyst before an explosion in agent commerce. The incentive policy is intended to link real user demand with supply from developers and merchants, he said.

On the same day, Cumen, Ctrip, Tongcheng, Jinjiang and other leading hotel, travel and scenic-area partners announced collective integration with Abao. The move adds intelligent services for nearby trips, travel ticketing, hotel stays and entertainment performances, building initial full-scenario supply from wanting to travel to choosing where to go and completing the trip, according to Leiphone.

Abao had already completed AI upgrades for core life scenarios such as government services, travel and consumption, with more than 10,000 life services connected, the report said. The new partners include Cumen, Ctrip, Tongcheng, Jinjiang, Yaster, Damai and Piaoxingqiu.

In online travel, Ctrip and Tongcheng are joining Abao's ecosystem for the first time as a group, offering one-stop query, recommendation and booking for hotel and travel services. Ctrip has integrated its full domestic and outbound supply, with strengths in high-star hotels, outbound travel and corporate business travel. Tongcheng has a large user base in transportation ticketing and economy accommodation.

Jinjiang and Yaster are connecting their official hotel brands, covering economy to luxury segments. For example, a user who previously had to open an app, search for a property and check prices can now tell Abao 'nearby Jinjiang hotel' or 'Jinjiang booking near West Lake in Hangzhou.' Abao can recommend the nearest property and retrieve official member prices; non-members can be directed to a member registration entry with one sentence, according to the report.

Cumen, an outdoor activity platform, has reached an exclusive cooperation with Abao. When a user asks where to go for the weekend, Abao can recommend hiking, camping, cycling or frisbee activities, then allow sign-up and payment and automatically generate fulfillment reminders, the report said. The service is meant to turn an impulse to go out into a spontaneous gathering.

In entertainment, Damai has launched a full movie ticketing process, from choosing a film and seat to payment and ticket issuance, all completed in conversation. Piaoxingqiu is set to connect performance ticketing, covering concerts, music festivals, drama and sports events.

An industry analyst cited in the report said earlier AI links with the hotel and travel industry were mostly limited to information queries and conversational recommendations, with users still manually completing transactions after receiving answers. The collective integration by leading merchants indicates that booking flights, hotels, checking scenic areas and finding performances are moving toward a full-chain intelligent upgrade, from understanding demand and assisting decisions to service dispatch, fulfillment and secure payment.

Cultural tourism platforms and scenic-area services are also accelerating their adoption. Huangshan and Wansuishan, among domestic leading scenic and amusement park sites, have connected to Abao. Users can state a request in one sentence to receive authoritative, up-to-date travel guides and directly buy tickets, avoiding the need to collect information and compare orders across multiple platforms, the report said. Zhangjiajie Tianmen Mountain and You Lin'an are also in the process of connecting.

The report said Alipay's cross-terminal interconnection ecosystem already covers five mainstream smartphone manufacturers, 16 mainstream car companies and AI glasses manufacturers. After Huawei, OPPO, vivo and Honor, Xiaomi's Super Xiao Ai and Abao publicly launched cross-terminal collaboration for the first time. Users can use Super Xiao Ai to link with Abao to handle various life services.