Universal Beijing Resort and Alibaba Group Strategic Partnership Announcement Ceremony Photo: Courtesy of Comcast Corporation

A customer experiences face recognition technology in buying a cup of coffee Photo: Chen Xi/GT

Universal Beijing Resort and Alibaba Group officially announced their strategic cooperation in Beijing on Thursday. 

Universal Beijing Resort will combine the cutting-edge technologies of Alibaba, including face recognition and online payment.

For example, Universal Beijing guests will have the option to use Alipay's facial-recognition technology across the resort, from park entry to storage lockers to express-lane access to even payment for merchandise and meals.

Alibaba's local service app, Koubei, will provide food and beverage recommendations based on guests' preferences, and enable online meal purchases to minimize wait times, according to a press release sent to the Global Times on Thursday. 

"The future of commerce is driven by technology and big data, and digitization will be the source of brand-new growth opportunities for all businesses," said Daniel Zhang, executive chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group.

"We put significant thought into the experiences we create for our guests," said Brian Roberts, chairman and CEO of Comcast Corporation, which owns Universal. 

"That experience is about more than our great rides and attractions. It's about making it fun and easy for our guests to enjoy their time with family and friends. Our partnership with Alibaba will help us do exactly that. Together, we can take the theme park experience to a new level."

Universal Beijing Resort is expected to open in 2021. It will be the fifth Universal Studios-branded theme park in the world.