Trip.com Group mulls delisting from Nasdaq
Chinese online travel giant Trip.com Group is in talks with potential investors about funding its delisting from Nasdaq because of rising U.S.-China tensions and the coronavirus-driven hit to its business, sources told Reuters. In a response to ChinaTravelNews' inquiry, Trip.com Group said it has no comment on the media report.
OTA partners with UK, Italy to spearhead travel recovery
The in-destination live-stream series by Trip.com Group has broadcasted to local audiences of tens of thousands in Japan, Korea, Thailand and Singapore, achieving total sales of around USD 3 million. The governments of the United Kingdom and Italy have expressed interest in working more closely with Trip.com Group to revitalize travel.
Video app TikTok challenges Ctrip and Meituan in their stronghold
The “Ticket Booking” and “Hotel Booking” functions that are the core business of Trip.com are now available within video-sharing app TikTok’s own verified merchant account page, enabling a complete consumer journey from inspiration to transaction. Boasting 400 million daily active users, TikTok will intensify the on-going fierce competition in the lifestyle services market.
Alibaba rolls out credit-based Accommodation At Will program
Zhima Credit, Alibaba's credit scoring and loyalty program within the Alipay application, launched Suixinzhu (meaning Accommodation At Will in Chinese), a credit-based accommodation booking service, in partnership with eight hotel chains and accommodation providers. Ttwo weeks ago, online travel unit Fliggy launched the Fly At Will product that offers consumers airline service nationwide in attractive deals to restore confidence.
Alibaba live streams connect Europe to China’s future travelers
Coronavirus may have curtailed outbound travel to Europe in 2020, but Fliggy has continued connecting Chinese audiences with European destinations, most notably via live streams. Since May, the Alibaba online travel unit has broadcast live streams from Serbia, Finland, Germany, and the U.K. as well as from some of the continent’s most storied cultural destinations including the Palace of Versailles, the British Museum, and Madrid’s Prado.
Skyscanner offers tourist boards free advertising slots
Skyscanner is offering tourist boards free advertising placements as part of a global advertising initiative. The flight search aggregator is hoping to encourage travelers back to the destinations that take it up on the offer as part of its efforts to support the travel industry’s recovery. So far, 20 tourist boards have signed up to Destination Connect initiative including Brand USA, Tourism Western Australia, Dubai Tourism and Visit Turkey.
China outbound tourism expected to recover in 6-12 months
The latest travel trends report by ITB China has examined the impact the coming recovery phase will have on the planned travel behaviour of Chinese outbound tourists, with the largest group of those surveyed expecting recovery in this market in 9-12 months. When asked about the recovery of the Chinese outbound travel market, 43% of those surveyed expect that outbound travel will recover within the next nine to 12 months. 33% think it might take six to nine months.
Daily passenger flights in China rebound to 80% of pre-COVID levels
The number of daily passenger flights in China has rebounded to 80% of pre-coronavirus levels, according to China's aviation regulator, as the aviation industry recovers from the plunge in travel demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Daily passenger traffic was nearly 70% of the level seen last year, with load factors, a measure of how well airlines are filling available seats, averaging 73.57%.
China's domestic aviation almost back to normal, international still low
Chinese domestic flights started to increase again, reaching 11,504 flights on July 27, only 18% below pre-COVID levels. The number of International flights remained stable over the same period (with 1,161 flights, 70% below pre-COVID levels). The same is true for overflights (464).
Flight search data reveal South Korea’s rise in popularity
Since late March, there has been an increase in the number of flight searches made to South Korea by Chinese consumers, according to Forwardkeys. The ForwardKeys flight search tool also found that airfares have jumped dramatically since 2019, yet that hasn’t slowed down the number of searches. Indeed, on the week starting June 29 the average airfare was USD 706 while a year ago it was USD 284 – more than double the price.
Italy travel linked to 1 in 4 first virus cases outside China
People who had visited Italy accounted for more than a quarter of the first reported cases of the new coronavirus outside China, according to a new study that found most initial infections were linked to just three countries. Researchers from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention used publicly-available data to find that 27% of all the first reported cases were people with travel links to Italy, while 22% had been to China and 11 percent had travelled from Iran.
TravelSky projects half-year net loss of more than $35 million
Chinese airline IT service provider TravelSky said it expects to record a net loss ranging from RMB 250-310 million (USD 35.7-44.3 million) for the six months ended 30 June this year as compared to the net profit of RMB 1,440 million last year.
China's Jin Jiang ranked the world's second-biggest hotel group
With 1,348,532 hotel rooms open as of the end of last year, Marriott continued to top the 2019 global HOTELS 325 ranking list, followed by China's Jin Jiang International with 1,081,230 rooms as of the same time. Among the global top 20 list, seven hotel groups were from China, including Jin Jiang, Huazhu Group, BTG Hotels, Dossen International, GreenTree Hospitality, Qingdao Sunmei Group and New Century Hotels.
