Trip.com Group holds 2021 Global Partner Summit in Macao

MACAO, Dec. 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Trip.com Group, a leading global travel service provider, held its 2021 Global Partner Summit in Macao today. With the theme of "Forward Together," the summit was attended by over 1,600 professionals representing every sector of the travel industry. Trip.com Group and partners gathered together at events throughout the day to share insights on the development of the industry and look ahead to the future of travel.

At the Summit, Trip.com Group Chairman and Co-founder James Liang outlined how he views the progression of the international travel recovery and reinforced the Group's continuous efforts to foster industry efforts geared toward recovery. Liang believes that as global vaccination rates continue to rise, and more countries and regions are opening their borders, international travel will return in the near future.

"This year, we have continued to work with destinations and partners around the world in preparation for the restoration of global travel," said Liang at the Summit. "The industry as a whole is ready to welcome and facilitate global travelers, we are the forefront together with partners to support the complete resumption of global travel."

Jane Sun, CEO of Trip.com Group, shared Trip.com Group's performance results from the past year and commented that despite the challenges faced by the travel industry, the Group continues to see growth across its major business units. Sun shared that both domestic hotel bookings and air ticket bookings in mainland China saw double-digit growth in Q2 2021 compared to the same period in 2019. Whilst on Trip.com, a sub-brand of Trip.com Group, global domestic hotel bookings increased by over 160% in Q3 2021 compared to Q3 2019. Cross-border air ticket bookings in Europe also saw an increase of 200% in Q3 2021 compared to the previous quarter.

"We believe in the power of reciprocity, that's how we and the entire industry are recovering together," said Sun. "In markets, and with partners around the world, we see cooperation driving the development of the industry and incredible efforts to bring forth travel recovery." 

During the opening ceremony of the Summit, the Macao Government Tourism Office and Trip.com Group signed a Memorandum of Understanding to together further promote travel to Macao. This is the second year that Macao tourism authorities and Trip.com Group have entered into official collaboration. In 2021, the two parties' partnership saw Macao travel bookings on Trip.com Group platforms increase by 244% in the first half of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020. The number of travelers to Macao saw a 150% QoQ increase, and "Macao" keyword searches grew by 216% YoY.

Trip.com Group's content marketing strategy is one of the major drivers behind this strong performance. Since the onset of the pandemic, Trip.com Group has rolled out innovative plans and products to boost its content marketing ecosystem. Trip.com Group now has 200 million users who engage with travel content on its Ctrip sub-brand platform, of which up to 30% make a booking within a month after accessing platform content. Livestreaming, a key pillar in Trip.com Group's content marketing ecosystem, continues to drive bookings. Since Ctrip developed dedicated livestreaming channels on its platform, bookings generated from livestreams increased nearly 15 times in Q3 2021 compared to the previous quarter. "Our content marketing strategy is an engine that engages users and inspires pent-up travel demand that in turn increases bookings," said Bo Sun, CMO of Trip.com Group. "Looking to the future, we will further invest in innovative marketing initiatives to empower our partners and boost travel recovery."

Director of the Macao Government Tourism Office, Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, expressed in her remarks that the success of the Summit in Macao today indicates that Macao is a safe and quality destination. The event also fuels the synergy of "tourism + MICE" and spotlights Macao's advantages as a MICE travel destination, inspiring more high-end business travellers to come to Macao to organize large-scale conferences, further enriching the dynamic tourism and leisure sector.

At the Summit, industry partners and destinations were recognized for their collaboration with Trip.com Group. Awards acknowledged innovative and collaborative approaches that were geared towards tapping into pent-up travel markets as well as bringing benefits to travelers and stakeholders. The Summit also saw industry leaders break out into sub-forums where sector-specific knowledge sharing was facilitated alongside Trip.com Group specialists and business unit leadership.  Dedicated accommodation, aviation, corporate travel, vacations and packaged tour sessions fostered sharing on past achievements, successful lessons from the past year and how to best collaborate and innovate as the industry looks ahead to 2022.

About Trip.com Group

Trip.com Group is a leading global travel service provider comprising of Trip.com, Ctrip, Skyscanner, and Qunar. Across its platforms, Trip.com Group helps travellers around the world make informed and cost-effective bookings for travel products and services and enables partners to connect their offerings with users through the aggregation of comprehensive travel-related content and resources, and an advanced transaction platform consisting of apps, websites and 24/7 customer service centers. Founded in 1999 and listed on NASDAQ in 2003 and HKEX in 2021, Trip.com Group has become one of the best-known travel groups in the world, with the mission "to pursue the perfect trip for a better world". Find out more about Trip.com Group here: group.trip.com

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