In a recent Reuters Newsmaker interview, Jane Sun, CEO of trip.com, the world鈥檚 largest online travel site, discusses the future of travel
China鈥檚 travel market is rapidly rebounding from the COVID-19 pandemic as its population gets vaccinated and the public鈥檚 confidence in the safety of travel at home and abroad is restored. And that鈥檚 good news for the rest of the world, says Jane Sun, CEO of , the world鈥檚 largest online travel site.
鈥淎s doctors and governments administer vaccines and reduce the severity of COVID-19 symptoms, people will want to travel again,鈥� Sun said in a Reuters Newsmaker interview earlier this week. 鈥淚f we get to the point where COVID-19 is treated like the flu 鈥� as something that鈥檚 not life-threatening 鈥� global travel will resume, and the industry will recover. The buying power is there, and people鈥檚 desire to travel is there, too.鈥�
Sun noted that hotel reservations during China鈥檚 Labor Day weekend at the beginning of May doubled from last year, airline ticket sales were up 28%, and car rentals were up more than 300%. Granted, most of this was domestic travel, since travel outside of China is still largely forbidden 鈥� but Sun also said that more than a year of restrictions have made Chinese citizens eager to travel internationally again.
鈥淭he pent-up demand is huge,鈥� she said. 鈥淟ots of families want to travel across the border.鈥�
Furthermore, if domestic trends are any indication, travelers flush with cash are also showing a greater interest in luxury accommodations and activities, such as ski trips, surfing vacations, meditation retreats, and safaris. Unique, customized experiences are in high demand, Sun noted, whereas demand for large group tours has declined.
Post-pandemic travel trends
Under normal conditions, the Chinese are among the world鈥檚 most enthusiastic travelers. According to the China Tourism Academy, Chinese travelers logged 149 million trips abroad in 2018 and spent $130 billion overseas. Currently, flights out of China to places considered 鈥渟afe,鈥� such as Singapore, are regularly full now, Sun pointed out, and the desire to travel to places like the United Kingdom, Europe, and Africa is growing.
As people start traveling again, however, Sun explained that she has seen three major trends emerge from the pandemic: i) people traveling on airlines and staying in hotels want to feel safe, so mask-wearing and other safety protocols need to be observed; ii) rather than travel in large groups, Chinese travelers are choosing to travel in small groups of four to six people and hiring a driver or tour guide to show them around; and iii) people who do travel want 鈥渇lexible and personalized鈥� options, as well as the ability to cancel tickets without being charged.
The travel industry 鈥渘eeds to put customers first,鈥� Sun said, adding that when the coronavirus hit China last year, 鈥渨e offered refunds without asking questions, which enabled our customers to have peace of mind, and that is very important.鈥�
The prospects for resumption of business travel are a bit murkier, Sun admitted, but she is optimistic that once leisure travel recovers, business travel will follow 鈥� even though businesses around the world have discovered the cost efficiencies of remote work.
鈥淚 think there are a couple of aspects of business travel that are difficult to replace,鈥� she said. 鈥淕oing to a conference where you meet 200 people 鈥� that鈥檚 hard to replicate with Zoom.鈥�
In the meantime, countries that need to attract tourism in order to revive their economies should be focusing on containment of the coronavirus, she said. 鈥淐ountries that demonstrate the ability to control COVID-19 will attract more customers,鈥� she advised, adding that 鈥渢he focus of governments should be to protect people first. If the risk can be reduced, borders can open.鈥�
Poised for a travel boom
Inside China, demand for travel services is quickly returning to pre-pandemic levels and in some cases exceeding it, Sun observed, so trip.com is currently focusing its resources on the domestic market. When borders open up, however, Chinese citizens are primed and ready to travel internationally, she added.
As a company, trip.com is positioning itself to take maximum advantage of this expected resurgence in travel. Even though its revenue plunged by almost half in 2020, trip.com has invested more than $4 billion in research & development over the past few years to enhance its mobile user experience and develop more capable forms of machine learning and artificial intelligence. The company has also recently acquired several smaller travel sites, such as Skyscanner and the India travel site Makemytrip.com. And on April 19, the company launched a secondary listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in a bid to raise more than $1.4 billion.
鈥淏eing listed in Hong Kong gives us a couple of advantages,鈥� Sun said. 鈥淥ur brand name is very well known in Asia, so it gives us access to more potential customers,鈥� as well as 鈥渢he opportunity to collaborate鈥� with partners in Asia鈥檚 airline, hotel, and tourism industries. Attracting more Asian investors is also part of the company鈥檚 strategy, Sun said, since the company鈥檚 investors have historically been concentrated in the U.S. and Europe.
And what, you ask, is at the top of Sun鈥檚 own bucket list of upcoming travel adventures? An African safari.
