Riding the Wave of Uncertainty – Trip.com Group Navigates the Road to Recovery
[Sponsored Article]
Global uncertainty surrounding the pandemic has been an ongoing theme for the last two years, and the future of the travel recovery has been hanging in the balance. Travel companies have had to adapt their business models to grow in new innovative ways. Global travel service provider, Trip.com Group and its major consumer brands Trip.com, Ctrip, Skyscanner, Qunar have approached the challenges brought on by the pandemic through agility and innovation.
The Group’s executive chairman James Liang has found potential in the crisis and embraced change by implementing a ‘Local Focus, Global Vision’ strategy. Unveiled by Mr Liang during the pandemic and an ongoing focus, the strategy involves the launch of new and compelling travel products and services, like flexi-booking and a content marketing ecosystem involving, livestreams, user generated content and Star Hub, a portal for partners. “We will learn to adapt in the face of adversity, pulling together our strategic resources to focus on our users and partners to seize new opportunity amidst fast-changing market conditions” said Mr Liang. “This dual prong approach has allowed our business to adapt to domestic markets conditions while actively working with global partners to drive global recovery.”
While the focus on domestic tourism has been a key driver for recovery, Trip.com Group has also engaged with key players in international tourism, inking deals with new destinations and industry partners in Europe and the US. In another positive sign for global recovery, air-ticket bookings in Europe and US have recently made major strides towards pre-pandemic levels. While the 2021 Q3 global flight volume was still below 2019 level, Trip.com’s overall international air-ticket bookings have increased by around 40% quarter-over-quarter, with air-ticket bookings in Europe growing by 170%. Skyscanner also saw air-ticket bookings increase by approximately 100% year-over-year and around 35% quarter-over-quarter.
Firmly believing that partnerships are key to the recovery of global travel, Trip.com Group held its annual Global Partner Summit in early December 2021, with the theme Forward Together. Trip.com Group’s CEO Jane Sun said “We believe in the power of reciprocity, that’s how we and the entire industry are recovering together. In markets, and with partners around the world, we see cooperation driving the development of the industry and incredible efforts to bring forth travel recovery.” During the summit, Trip.com Group signed an MOU agreement with the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) built off their successful partnership throughout 2021. As a result of the cooperation, on Trip.com Group’s Ctrip platform in H1 2021, total bookings for Macao travel products saw 244% YoY growth, Macao travel product trip bookings grew by 150% compared to the same period in 2020 and searches for the keyword “Macao” saw 215% YoY growth.
Trip.com Group’s content marketing strategy, implemented by their Chief Marketing Officer Bo Sun, is one major driver behind the business’ strong performance. This allowed partners to access a large traffic pool and improve conversion. There are more than 200 million users who engage with travel content on the Group’s Ctrip platform. Up to 30% make a booking within a month of browsing.
Another major achievement for Trip.com Group was its successful listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, enabling the business to have a truly global offering. The net proceeds from the listing will enable Trip.com Group to fund the expansion of its one-stop travel offerings and improve user experience, invest in technology to bolster its leading market position in products and services and improve its operating efficiency.
The Group has focused heavily on the launch of innovative campaigns to drive local tourism recovery. Its flagship global platform Trip.com launched a “#BestShot Wins a Trip” campaign to incentivise Hong Kong residents to be fully vaccinated, by offering vaccinated travellers HK$50 million in prizes and international flight tickets. By the end of the campaign, the event page on the Trip.com website generated 128,710 unique visitors, 23,803 sign-ups for the free giveaway, and 5,724 new registered users on Trip.com.
While the future of the pandemic remains uncertain, the overall trend of travel recovery remains in place. Trip.com Group continues to be optimistic about the future of global travel recovery, particularly as global vaccination rates continue to rise and more countries and regions are opening their borders to allow international travel. However, the Group’s agile approach means they are prepared to face any potential obstacles that may arise.