Trip.com slashes salaries for chairman, CEO to zero and halves executives’ pay as Covid-19 outbreak delivers heavy blow to travel industry
- Other executives will reduce their salary by as much as half, chief executive says in internal letter
- Global tourism could suffer US$50 billion in income loss, UN agency estimates
Trip.com Group, China’s largest online tour agency, said its top executives are taking drastic cuts to their salaries, as the global travel industry has taken a heavy blow from the global coronavirus outbreak.
The company’s Chairman James Liang Jianzhang and Chief Executive Jane Sun Jie will stop accepting a salary starting from March, while other executives of the Beijing-based company, formerly known as Ctrip.com, will halve their salaries until the travel industry recovers from the outbreak, Sun said in a staff letter that was circulated online. Trip.com’s spokesman confirmed Sun’s letter as true and accurate.
“The situation [of the coronavirus outbreak] in China has stabilised but remains uncertain globally,” Sun wrote in the staff letter. “While we stay optimistic about the future, we also have to remain rational and prepare for a long-term battle against the virus.”
Front-line employees at Trip.com’s client-facing services department are still eligible for a pay rise, but other employees will be placed under a salary freeze, Sun said.
Trip.com does not disclose the individual salaries of its senior management but said it paid its nine directors including Liang and Sun a combined US$1.7 million in cash compensation in 2018. It also paid executives excluding Liang, Sun and Vice Chairman Fan Min a combined US$1.6 million in cash, who received separate compensation as executive directors.