With “innovationism” as its new philosophy, Trip.com Group comes roaring back

Trip.com Group is back, and if you ever had any doubts about its resurgence and ambitions, well, those were swept away by the mighty and impressive show of force it put on for its Envision 2024 Global Partner Conference in Shanghai last week for more than 1,600 partners across 50 countries and regions.

Chairman James Liang coined a new world – “innovationism” – to describe the “new philosophy of travel” in the age of artificial intelligence. “The meaning of life is to pursue innovation and heritage for the long-term prosperity of humanity,” he said, adding that travel has even more meaning now because it, like innovation, “is the highest form of human nature and satisfaction.”

Saying that “innovation cannot be done by machines but by humans – individuals, governments and corporate,” he noted that the internet and AI were fertile grounds for innovation in customer service and marketing.

And he singled out Trip Genie, the group’s AI personalized itinerary planner which, since its introduction last July, has handled more than a million queries, doubled conversion rates, seen 40% additional time spent by users and 90% increase in orders.

The meaning of business to Trip.com Group is quite clear: to build a global online travel agency that is dominant across all verticals – flights, accommodation, trains, vacation packages, attractions and cars, corporate travel and B2B – underpinned by a superior tech stack, built by an army of 10,000 engineers in product and tech (almost a third of the group’s total head count), unparalleled customer service and a unique marketing machinery that includes a live-streaming platform that has been used by more than 1,000 suppliers, held 15,000 live streams and generated RMB700 million-plus in gross merchandise value (GMV) in a year.

CEO Jane Sun, nursing a wounded ankle from a ski accident, went on stage to declare that “being here will make me heal better,” and who wouldn’t feel better with such glowing results to report for 2023 – GMV of $160 billion, 100% growth in international and 300% growth in outbound hotel and flight bookings and revenues. In Q1 2024, it saw robust growth – more than 100% increase in international hotel and air bookings, 80% growth in APAC and 900% growth in Europe.

One message came across loud and clear – the group is back on its global expansion path, which was temporarily halted by the pandemic. It recently launched in the Middle East and is looking to South America.

“We are expanding internationally. We want to bring travelers from Asia and China to the rest of the world, and travelers from around the world to Asia and China,” Sun said. “We want to bring the world closer together.”

Higher-tier members and younger generation driving robust, diversified growth

Boon Sian Chai, managing director and vice president of international markets, said the robust and diversified growth – 20% growth year over year domestic, 100% growth year over year outbound and 80% growth year over year international – was being driven by a double boost engine, the return of Chinese outbound and the expansion of Trip’s point of sales globally.

It is also being driven by its higher-tier members and a younger generation, with those born in the 1990s and 2000s growing considerably from 2023 to 2024.

“This younger generation needs a new approach,” he said, and the group will use tech to build a travel ecosystem around AI and user generated content, will make it effortless to ensure an experience that is seamless and carefree, and will focus on sustainability.

The group is developing solutions for every stage of their journey. For inspiration - TripGenie, Trip Moments, Livestream and KOL; search - Trip.Best, Trip.Trends, Trip.Deals; booking - modification, notification, loyalty program, customer service; and experience – customer service, Sustainability and My Trips.

He said My Trips, a feature now available on Ctrip which “tells me where I’ve been and where I can go,” will be available on Trip.com shortly.

Overall, hotel bookings have seen significant growth with over 8,000 hotels offering Hotel+X products. Its Preferred Partner Program attracted 2,000+ partners, while Trip.Best expanded to over 20,000 hotels, with new themes such as “boutique homestays” and “newly opened hotels.”

Another trend it is seeing in hotel bookings is longer average lead time of 22 days and on sustainability, 2,600 hotels have been designated low carbon hotels.

Goal to be No 1 Flight OTA in the world in 5 years

Yudong Tan, CEO of air ticketing, declared his goal is to build the number one flight OTA in the world in five years, and he articulated four steps to achieve this lofty goal: build a solid supply chain, provide high quality products and services, stay tech driven and grow direct customer base.

Its priorities are direct partnerships, low cost flight content, long-haul flights, which means working on virtual interlining, premium cabin offerings and new markets such as Middle East and South America.

Its direct sales are powered by its inhouse shopping engine that handles 900 million queries a day delivering 50% of bookings, 50% of which came from virtual interlining.

Low-cost flights have come to dominate the air space in Asia Pacific and Europe, he said, accounting for 56% and 52% of total air market respectively. It has direct collaboration with AirAsia and Vietjet and is working on a project with Navitaire to reach winning deals for four sides – customers, airlines, Trip and Navitaire.

NDC bookings are taking off – from 2% to 3.5% – with challenges such as look-to-book ratio and dynamic pricing to be addressed. It has built an inhouse NDC shopping engine with aggregators such as Travelfusion and NDC-X and in collaboration with airlines.

Following Tan’s speech, Sam Abdou, Amadeus’ executive vice president of global OTA, distribution and IT sales, came on stage to talk about how it was working with Trip across the entire traveler journey, including the FUN (Flight Update Notification) solution it developed with Trip that channels instant disruption information from roughly one million flights as well as the first OTA online check-in service on Thai International flights within Asia.

Rail expansion across Europe, Vacation’s chief promises to “innovate and disrupt”

Meanwhile, the group’s international train business has expanded operations in Europe, starting in the United Kingdom, and now covering the Netherlands, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany and Italy, among some of its key markets.

Florence Pasquier, chief commercial officer of Rail Europe, which began its partnership with Ctrip in 2011, said it has sold 110 million Euros worth of tickets through the group and was seeing trends of smaller groups of Chinese travelers as well as new demand for more dispersed destinations. It is working on a Bernese Oberland pass, for example, “due to demand for nature experiences,” she said.

Meanwhile, CEO Ray Chen of its Vacation business, who started as a software engineer working on hotel search at Ctrip, promised to “innovate and disrupt” this highly fragmented and broad sector that covers package tours, private car tours, attractions and tours, airport transfers, custom trips, visa services and car rental.

The group saw record sales in vacation packages, and will expand ticketing services globally in the year ahead with 16 new sites and eight new service languages. There are plans to expand car rental services to Thailand, Japan and other markets.

Chen said it has one of the most powerful engines for flash sales, citing the example of when the Korean singer songwriter IU’s concert was held in Hong Kong in May, it sold 10,000 tickets in nine seconds “and I think we can do it faster.”

In other areas, Sun said Trip.Biz was already the largest corporate travel agency in China by far and was showing three-digit growth, with significant increases in hotel and flight bookings. There are plans for expansion in Greater China, North Asia, Southeast Asia, Middle East and site deployment in Europe, North America and Oceania.

Said Sun, “The travel industry is a vital driver of global GDP and job creation, and at Trip.com Group, we are proud to be at the forefront, using travel as a bridge for peace and prosperity. With the support of our partners, we are ready to turn the page to the next chapter of our journey and embrace fresh opportunities together.”

*This article originally appeared in WebinTravel.