2022 saw Trip.com Group help drive the long-awaited recovery of the embattled global travel and tourism sector as it revived from the pandemic. The company delivered resilient results in the third quarter of the past year, despite the continued disruptions resulting from the COVID-19 resurgence in China.
Throughout the year, the global travel industry continued to make good progress towards full recovery, with Europe and the US leading the restoration of travel and Asia Pacific picking up the pace.
While the international market made steady progress and faced the challenges being posed to the sector, the Chinese domestic market also saw signs of a rebound with hotel bookings surpassing 2019 levels by the end of June as restrictions were relaxed.
During 2022, Trip.com Group took the opportunity to launch a range of new products, celebrated key milestones, implemented a raft of service enhancements and encouraged travelers with new and unique inspirational content.
Trip.com Group’s app-first strategy contributed to Trip.com being named the 10th most downloaded OTA app globally in the first half of 2022, boosting bookings and travel.
Trip.com’s highly successful app-first strategy has steadily driven app instals, which have grown to more than 6.2 million downloads. App installs reached a record high in South Korea and the UK during 2022.
Recovery is further evidenced in travel bookings with Air ticket bookings on Trip.com Group’s global platforms increasing more than 100 per cent year-over-year.
Flight bookings in EMEA and American markets continued to show double-digit year-over-year growth and in Asia Pacific, the growth was stellar at over 400 per cent above the same period in 2021. Trip.com Group expects to see such momentum extend into the fourth quarter hopefully surpassing 2019 level.
Hotel bookings on Trip.com Group’s global platforms increased by 45 per cent compared to Q3 in 2019 with domestic hotel bookings in non-China markets increasing by 300 per cent versus Q3 2019 and other major markets including the US, UK, UAE, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia all witnessing triple-digit growth over the Q3 2019 levels.
UK TrainPal was on track to reach a new record in the number of orders processed during the year as it continues to challenge its competitors to offer British rail users even better deals.
Jane Sun, Trip.com Group Chief Executive Officer, said: “Trip.com Group has continued to outperform expectations in a year defined by the recovery of the international travel and tourism sector, led by the pent-up demand to travel.
“Traveler confidence has grown as restrictions have relaxed and so we too are confident and positive in the long-term growth profile of the travel industry.
“Trip.com Group has innovated as post-pandemic travelers’ needs have evolved, to offer them unique product offerings while improving our competitiveness and service capabilities.
“We are dedicated to supporting and sustaining the prosperity and healthy development of the global travel sector, by leveraging our platform to provide products and services for our customers and an ever more sustainable travel experience as we pursue the perfect trip for a better world.”
Trip.com Group’s performance over the past year, shows the value of its investment in the future as it continually innovates and adapts to meet the needs of the new generation of post-pandemic travelers.
In May, the Group launched its first global podcast series, TRIPCAST. The thought-provoking podcast delves deep into the challenges and initiatives undertaken to drive growth across the travel industry.
The new series focuses on business highlights, technological innovation and services which help improve the performance of its business partners destinations, while it serves global travelers and shapes the future of travel.
Later that month, as part of its sustainability initiative, Trip.com Group partnered with CHOOOSE to help customers adjust their CO2 emissions by contributing towards highly effective CO2 migrating projects around the world. Its corporate travel teams outperformed 85 per cent of other global companies and was awarded a silver rating by EcoVadis, an internationally recognized CSR rating platform.
As part of its commitment to innovation, Trip.com launched its ‘Trip.Best’ list in June to enable global users to choose specially curated country-specific ‘very best hotel experiences’. This new ‘Trip.Best’ feature will be rolled out across various markets to include the most popular destinations around the world.
In October, Trip.com marked its fifth anniversary as it continued its ambitious expansion plans, driven by its mission to be the most trusted trip companion for travelers worldwide. Since it was acquired in 2017, Trip.com has become the mainstay global travel brand of Trip.com Group and accelerated a step change in the companies’ culture, product offering and strategy.
October also saw the Trip.com Group join the Global Sustainable Tourism Council’s global network as a member, as part of its commitment to sustainability.
The same month it announced its green tourism goals, covering three key areas: firstly, to launch over 10,000 low-carbon travel products; secondly to promote sustainable travel and engage 100 million travelers in low-carbon practices; and thirdly, to further reduce carbon emissions across its own operations.
In November, Trip.com was named Contact Center of the Year 2022 at the International Customer Relationship Excellence Awards. The top accolade marked a major achievement for Trip.com, as the International award is given to organisations which showcase and excel in World-Class standards, Best Practices and the Customer Service Quality Standard (CSQS) categories.
In December, Trip.com Group held its 2022 Global Partner Summit in Macao, which brought together tourism boards, international airlines, hotel groups and industry representatives from across the whole travel industry on the theme of ‘Journey into the Future Together’, providing insights on the industry’s growth and the future opportunities ahead.
Sustainability initiatives were a key focus across the year in all markets and throughout the year Trip.com Group used business resources to support those in need, in aspects such as emergency response services and sustainable tourism in rural regions. Throughout the year Trip.com Group has been dedicated to contributing to the communities served all over the world and this includes over the Christmas period.
In Hong Kong, Trip.com and Save the Children Hong Kong invited 60 people from 17 grassroots families living in Sham Shui Po community to enjoy a trip to Hong Kong Ocean Park. In South Korea, warm winter blankets and donations were made for families in need, and in Japan an employee voluntary donation initiative was launched which saw Christmas presents gifted to children in Tokyo.
Looking ahead to 2023, Trip.com Group will continue to strengthen its content to inspire customers to travel and use the Trip.com app to explore the world through their fingertips alongside continuing work to be an excellent corporate citizen in the world. The company has also positioned itself as the world’s leading and most trusted family of online travel brands which aims to deliver the perfect trip at the best price for every traveler.
