ChinaTravelNews, Ritesh Gupta – Global travel service provider Trip.com Group’s focus on making the most of a travel shopper’s attention during the inspiration and planning phase is paying off in the overall booking journey.
Speaking during the group’s results for the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2024, James Liang, Executive Chairman, Trip.com Group shared that the blend of tailored recommendations, exclusive deals and digital ads is contributing in a big way.
As an overall strategy for streamlining travel discovery and planning, artificial intelligence (AI) is playing its part in several ways – in powering digital advertisements as well as improving the user experience of its digital assets via AI-driven content and search functionalities. One of the highlights is the way TripGenie, Trip.com's AI-powered travel assistant, is helping travellers throughout their entire journey. The company recently shared that travellers spend “an average of over 20 minutes more on the app when interacting with this tool.”
“In 2024, TripGenie saw traffic surge by 200%, browsing time increase by nearly 100% and the total number of conversations rise by 200%,” mentioned Liang.
Trip.com has been focusing on embedding intelligence into every journey, and it believes the travel assistant is an intuitive tool that comes up with recommendations as per an individual’s preferences or the itinerary that has been booked. Liang shared that a traveller can receive intelligent updates for hotels, airport transfers and activities according to their existing itinerary. Other than suggesting hotels, attractions and more, TripGenie can also assist with route optimisation, itinerary management and sharing, and customer service enquiries.
“User can also rely on TripGenie for seamless assistance via voice and text commands in multiple languages throughout their journey,” he said. The tool is currently available in over 10 languages.
In 2024, TripGenie received over 2.6 million unique views, an increase of over 120% compared to 2023.
“New AI models present great potential to enhance our services by making travel planning more personalised and efficient. We believe AI agents will not replace OTAs. Instead, they will complement us. They are likely to replace traditional search engines as primary entry points for traffic, opening new customer acquisition channels for OTAs,” said Liang.
Importantly, Liang also added that AI cannot replicate the value that Trip.com offers in two areas. “First, our extensive real-time proprietary travel insights are key to delivering accurate and personalised travel recommendations,” he pointed out. “Second, our end-to-end service model and open platform approach enable us to offer competitive service standards and pricing tailored to diverse customer preferences.” He added that company recognises the vast potential of generative AI in the travel industry. “We are eager to introduce more user-friendly and valuable features in the future.”
Product development expenses as a percentage of net revenue were 27% for Q4.
Inbound travel
Jane Sun, Chief Executive Officer of the group mentioned that China’s inbound travel sector is emerging as a key driver of economic and cultural vibrancy.
She highlighted initiatives like The Chinese State Administration of Immigration’s decision to expand its visa-free layover period to 10 days. Citizens of more than 50 countries can avail this policy.
“The extension of the transit visa to 240 hours and the expansion of visa-free arrangements have led to a remarkable surge in international arrivals. Official data shows that, in 2024, visa applications rose by 20% year-over-year and visa-free entries increased by an impressive 112% from the previous year. This influx is fuelled by strong demand from diverse source markets,” said Jane.
In Q4, inbound travel bookings on the group’s platforms increased by over 100% year-over-year. The group’s outbound travel booking increased by over 20% year-over-year.
Jane also shared that in Q4, the industry-level cross-border flight capacity reached over 80% of the pre-pandemic level.
“Concurrently, our outbound hotel and air ticket bookings have recovered to more than 120% compared to 2019, consistently outperforming the industry by 30% to 40%. In 2024, China saw a remarkable surge in domestic travel with 5.6 billion trips taken,” said Jane.
Liang mentioned that Trip.com Group’s international business continues to show robust growth, representing 14% of group revenue in Q4 and 10% in 2024.
Loyalty
Trip.com, one of the flagship brands under the Group, launched a major upgrade to its membership initiative in Q4. Under the new optimised upgrade system, there are a total of five tiers.
As part of the revamped Trip.com Rewards program, a new tier, called the Diamond+ tier, has been introduced. To qualify for this new tier, members must spend a minimum of USD $10,000 within a year after reaching the Diamond tier. The new tiers offers members with exclusive services such as premium customer support and rewards like free attraction tickets.
The first tier, Silver, requires only registration to earn rewards. The second tier, Gold, requires one eligible booking.
The third one, Platinum, when three eligible bookings are done within a year and the fourth one, Diamond, requires eight eligible bookings (minimum USD $1,000) within a year after reaching Platinum.
