Trip.com Group’s international brand Trip.com will be adopting successful features on its Ctrip domestic platform, such as “badges for low carbon footprint hotels” to connect sales to environmental, social and governance (ESG), corporate sustainability and societal impact responsibility as part of its future growth strategies.

Live streaming will also be added to Trip.com next month.

Popular on Ctrip, the live streaming which was launched in 2020, has garnered more than one billion views, generating total live broadcast gross merchant value (GMV) of US$1.4 billion.

This year, there have been 14 live broadcasts so far with 500 international hotels participating, which Trip.com Group wants to expand into the “tens of thousands” over the next three years.

To create value for partners, artificial intelligence (AI) will be used to create compelling visuals from photographs supplied by hotel partners.

These were some of the future growth strategies announced by the company’s leaders during the May 30 Envision 2024 Global Partner Conference, held in Shanghai, and themed Charting the Next Chapter of Our Growth Together.

James Liang, co-founder and chairman, said the group recognised the importance of ESG among young customers and partners where the former can differentiate low carbon footprint hotels by their “badge”.

The group’s inventory comprises some 2,600 eco-friendly hotels attracting around 4.3 million paid guests, who also forked out four per cent more for their flights to offset their carbon footprint.

AI’s widespread impact on the travel industry, Liang added, was boosting productivity, enhancing customer service, and providing users with highly personalised travel recommendations.

Healthy growth after recovery
In 2023, Trip.com Group’s CEO Jane Sun reported unprecedented growth with US$160 billion in GMV, the highest of all OTA platforms; 100 per cent international growth; and 300 per cent growth in outbound hotel and flight bookings and revenue.

To empower global B2B transactions, the group enhanced global insurance for flights, hotels and rentals via global partnerships; offered TripLink an international UnionPay issuer providing US cards and exchange services; and global shopping with partners from 6,000 luxury groups, department stores and duty-free operators in 800 cities.

Sun further shared that 1Q2024 was also off to a strong start, with GMV increasing 56 per cent vs 1Q2023; more than 100 per cent growth in international hotel and air bookings, 80 per cent growth in Asia-Pacific, and 900 per cent in Europe “with a much smaller base”.

The group’s ecosystem comprises some 1.7 million global accommodation listings, flights from over 600 airlines, and a network of over 90,000 partners, including group tours, attractions, and car rental providers.

Boon Sian Chai, managing director and vice president international markets, said the Group has fully recovered on flight bookings and named Japan, Thailand, South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore as top destinations.

Among western markets, Chai noted Australia and the UK were “less sceptical about visa and safety issues and these travellers were booking earlier”, which was helping revenue and yield management.

To help boost its vacation packages, Chai urged hotels partners to offer “transparent rates” to complement efforts by the Group to expand ticketing services globally this year with 16 new sites and eight new service languages. There are also plans to expand car rental services to Thailand, Japan and other markets.

Chai said its data showed business was being generated by “higher-tier members and the younger generation”.

Its Black Diamond Members who spend more than US$71,000 were booking “70 room nights at US$300”, he noted.

The group is targeting and acclimatising to younger travellers by using AI to train and address questions in a scalable manner to provide an effortless and sustainable technology ecosystem.

He pointed out that TripGenie, a customised app which integrates agent and partner content to boost customer experience, will continue, now supports voice and text conversations in nine languages, with new support for Italian, Dutch and Malay available by end-June.

Chai pointed out that agent calls are answered in 30 seconds, AI is improving user “self-service” functions, and its Trustpilot customer service rating has improved to 4.2 stars.

He continued: “Younger travellers are sharing via social media on how to get from point A to point B, what food to eat, etc on the Trip Moments homepage, and we are adapting our tools to consumer behaviour and trends.”

On the Ctrip app for example, information alerts include the aircraft take-off queue number on the tarmac, and upon arrival, the baggage carousel number, which Chai said will be available on the Trip.com app by year end.