ChinaTravelNews, Ritesh Gupta – Online travel giant Trip.com Group has identified the inbound travel segment as one of its three core investment priorities for the coming year. This strategic focus is joined by two other key pillars: artificial intelligence (AI) innovation and social responsibility initiatives. The company plans to capitalise on what leadership describes as a “golden age” for Chinese tourism, fuelled by a surge in visa-free travel and a massive gap in market penetration compared to global peers.
Speaking during the company’s Q4 earnings call, James Liang, Executive Chairman of Trip.com Group, highlighted the untapped potential of the China inbound market. He noted that while tourism is a vital economic engine, China’s current inbound segment is significantly underdeveloped compared to other global leaders.
“We believe that inbound travel to China is at the start of a significant and sustainable growth cycle,” Liang stated.” Currently, inbound tourism only accounts for about 0.5% of China’s GDP. In contrast, countries like Thailand see over 10% of their GDP from inbound travel, while European nations like France, Italy, and Spain see between 5% and 6%. We see a clear path for at least 5x to 10x growth in this sector.”
To capture this opportunity, Trip.com Group served around 20 million inbound travellers in 2025, facilitating demand across transportation, accommodation, and curated local experiences, added Liang.
Beyond mere volume, the group’s strategy revolves around infrastructure and “demand readiness.” In 2025, the company invested over RMB 1 billion to strengthen the inbound ecosystem. Key execution highlights include:
* Platform and Offline Support: Integrated service capabilities now span online platforms and dedicated offline service counters at major hubs like Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong.
*Expansion of Supply: The company connects inbound demand to 150,000 hotels, with over 63,000 of these properties beginning to serve international visitors for the first time this year.
*Cultural Accessibility: Launched “Taste of China,” an immersive culinary initiative, and expanded multilingual self-service facilities to 241 attractions supporting 16 languages.
*Retail and Logistics: A new “Global Tax Refund Map” covers 3,400 local merchants to streamline the shopping experience for foreign visitors.
CEO Jane Sun emphasised that the goal is to help travellers move through their journeys with “greater ease and confidence” while channeling traffic toward small businesses and regional destinations to boost local economic vitality.
APAC leads the charge
Xiaofan Wang, CFO and Executive VP, reported that the strategy to pitch China as a source market is already yielding significant financial results. In 2025, gross bookings for the international OTA platform surged by 60% year-over-year.
“APAC remains our largest source of inbound travellers and the primary region for our expansion,” Wang noted, adding that demand from the Middle East and Western markets is also showing strong growth potential. “Looking into 2026, we remain focused on growing our APAC business while exploring other global regions with a disciplined, data-driven approach.”
In 2025, the group invested approximately RMB 2.9 billion to enhance the overall travel experience for users.
Role of AI in inbound travel
The group highlighted that artificial intelligence is acting as the primary bridge between international demand and local supply. The team is utilising AI-powered communication systems to help local partners overcome language barriers and better showcase their inventories to a global audience.
For small- and medium-sized partners, AI-enabled tools provide multi-lingual content generation to reach diverse markets and intelligent customer service to handle complex international queries.
Liang also mentioned that AI is constantly contributing in terms of improving the user experience. “For users, we continue to invest in our AI ecosystem to deliver highly personalised data-driven recommendations that not only improve content quality but also continuously enhance the overall user experience.”
Trip.com Group views the rapid advancement of generative AI not merely as a trend to follow, but as a primary catalyst that validates and accelerates its long-term strategy. According to Liang, the rise of AI agents marks one of the most significant technological shifts in recent years, and the company is moving aggressively to shape their role within the travel industry. Liang argues that while general AI agents excel at the “inspiration” phase of travel, the core of a successful journey remains rooted in the transactional and service layers. For a “true closed loop” to exist, AI must be deeply integrated with a complex global supply chain, including live rates, secure payments, and guaranteed fulfillment. The group maintained that these are the areas where Trip.com Group’s decades of operational expertise provide a distinct advantage.
The company’s competitive edge in this new era is built on what Liang calls “vertical travel expertise.”
While general AI models are powerful, Trip.com Group leverages its proprietary data, real-time booking history, and millions of verified reviews to fine-tune these models into specialised travel experts.
“Our true advantage,” Liang noted, “is the ability to fine-tune these models... using our decades of proprietary data.” This allows tools like TripGenie to move beyond simple recommendations to provide real-time, bookable results grounded in live inventory. Liang further emphasised the “last mile guarantee,” stating that while an algorithm can suggest a flight, the platform’s ability to confirm bookings instantly at reliable rates remains a core business pillar that general AI cannot easily replicate.
Strategically, the Group is preparing for a shift where AI agents become the next generation of user entry points, potentially capturing market share from traditional search engines and social media. To lead this evolution, the company is investing in native AI agents capable of handling sophisticated, multi-step travel planning. Externally, this includes building direct agent-to-agent transactional capabilities with global partners.
However, the human element remains central to the strategy. Liang maintains that because travel is a “high-stakes emotional purchase,” travellers will always require reliable, global support when issues arise. By combining autonomous AI efficiency with a trusted service infrastructure, Trip.com Group aims to position itself not just as a booking tool, but as a comprehensive travel partner for the AI age.
