Original title: Ctrip Liang Jianzhang: The opening of the international travel market has become an inevitable trend. Many countries look forward to the return of Chinese tourists
Liang Jianzhang, the co-founder of Ctrip Group and Chairman of the Board of Directors, expressed his views on the hot topic “Meta Universe” at the Global Partners Summit held in The Londoner, Macau on December 9th and said that inspiring mankind to explore the real universe is tourism duty of. He believes that one should be wary of the sense of accomplishment brought about by the meta-universe, which will eventually make people lose their desire to explore the real world. From the perspective of the complexity and logic of the meta-universe, it is far worse than the real universe. “Of course we can use virtual reality to preview the real universe and stimulate the inspiration and willingness to explore the real universe.”
Regarding the opening up of international tourism, he gave his predictions and expectations: “It is expected that China will have conditions to open up in half a year.” And Ctrip CEO Sun Jie also said that after 2021, the Ctrip platform will be more effective for merchants. Empowerment, support for the industry, and response to national policies are all carried out in a richer dimension, and will continue to work with industry partners to deal with the normalization of the domestic epidemic and the opening and recovery of international tourism in the future.
Looking at the future: International travel has restarted, the biggest challenge is Meta Universe
Liang Jianzhang, who has been investigating the world for several months, participated in the conference in the form of video connection, and in his speech showed photos of his meeting with representatives of the National Tourism Administration of the United Kingdom, Austria, Spain, Portugal, and the United States. Liang Jianzhang introduced that these overseas destinations are looking forward to the return of Asian tourists, especially Chinese tourists.
Liang Jianzhang believes that the gradual recovery trend of the global travel market is already obvious. Beginning in the third quarter of this year, European and American countries, including Japan and Singapore in Asia, have all loosened travel restrictions. “Of course, our country will definitely be more cautious, and earnestly learn from the epidemic prevention experience of these open countries, and gradually realize conditional opening up.”
While “with a global mindset”, Ctrip has also made considerable progress in “deepening the domestic market.” In March of this year, Ctrip announced its “tourism marketing hub” strategy. Near the end of the year, Liang Jianzhang also counted several key points-the content ecology, the planet flagship store, the word-of-mouth list, and the relevant highlights of the fake farms. In addition, Liang Jianzhang also mentioned the popular concept of “meta universe”, but he explained it from another angle: the real universe will not be replaced by the meta universe, and the desire of people to explore and travel in the real universe will always exist.
In Liang Jianzhang’s view, at a time when the concept of Metaverse technology is gradually heating up and the epidemic is repeatedly impacting the tourism industry, all tourists who stick to the industry have a heavy responsibility. “We must make the travel experience better, more interesting and interactive, and turn the meta-universe concept and technology into a source of inspiration for users to explore the real universe, instead of letting the meta-universe replace real travel.”
Opportunities: the promotion of both supply and demand in tourism marketing is imperative for product upgrades
What are the current opportunities and challenges in the tourism industry? Sun Jie believes that it is still necessary to find answers from the profound changes caused by the return of outbound tourists to the domestic market. Because of the emergence of this part of the newly added mid-to-high-end consumer power, domestic airlines, hotels, scenic spots, parks, destinations, etc. usher in a golden opportunity for brand marketing. Users also urgently need to know how to play and how to play in China. On the other hand, this part of the consumption power is forcing the upgrade and iteration of domestic travel products, and the national level is also taking advantage of this to promote rural tourism, red tourism and other travel products.
The first is the “booming supply and demand” tourism marketing market. Ctrip launched a new strategy of “tourism marketing hub” in March this year, and upgraded the “deep cultivation content” part of the strategy proposed in October last year.
At present, young users have become the main consumer force of the Ctrip platform. In 2021, young users under the age of 30 will account for more than half of the platform. On the other hand, many sections in the “travel marketing hub” system are also progressing rapidly: Ctrip live broadcast in the third quarter The number of orders directly generated during the period increased by nearly 15 times compared with the second quarter; in the Ctrip community, the monthly content conversion rate reached 30%; in the 7 months since the launch of the Ctrip Planet flagship store, the number of merchants’ content published, exposure, and fans And fan turnover GMV maintained an average monthly growth rate of 50%.
In the whole year of 2021, driven by the “tourism marketing hub” strategy, Ctrip has also made considerable progress in deep cultivating products, quality, and supply chain, which is reflected in Ctrip’s four main businesses-large accommodation, large air tickets, and large travel , The empowerment of business travel to businesses. Sun Jie focused on two classic enabling cases of “Ctrip × Sanya·Atlantis” and “Ctrip × Air Macau”. Sun Jie said that with the joint empowerment of Ctrip Planet’s flagship store operation and live broadcast, the ADR of Sanya Atlantis Hotel from April to October increased by more than 30% year-on-year in 2019, and the corresponding GMV increased by more than 50%. The growth rate is ahead of the market average.
On the other hand, Sun Jie introduced Ctrip’s progress in rural tourism and red tourism. Since Ctrip launched its “Rural Tourism Revitalization” strategy in March, Ctrip fake farms have been established in Anhui, Henan, Hunan, Xinjiang and other places. At the same time, Sun Jie said that this year Ctrip has exclusively customized a hundred red routes, and in the future it will also introduce more high-quality products through innovative methods. “Rural revitalization and red tourism are national strategies and Ctrip’s responsibility.” Sun Jie said.
Looking at the light: Macau tourism recovers significantly and Ctrip actively deploys inbound and outbound tourism
Under the influence of the global epidemic, Macau is one of the few outbound tourism destinations that mainland tourists can visit with peace of mind. This is also an important reason why Ctrip chose Macau as the venue for the summit.
“In the past nearly two years, domestic online travel platforms have strongly supported the recovery of Macau’s tourism industry. Ctrip Group has always supported Macau’s series of measures to boost tourism. A number of cooperation projects have been carried out in an orderly manner with significant results. The second summit landed in Macau and carried out smoothly. This is confidence in Macau’s epidemic prevention work. It indicates that Macau is a safe and suitable place to travel. It has also become a very big driving force for the rapid recovery of Macau’s tourism and exhibition industry.” Macau Special Administrative Region Wen Qihua, director of the Government Tourism Bureau, said at the meeting.
Data from Ctrip can also provide insight into this trend: From January to September 2021, the number of mainland citizens entering Macau from the airport has recovered to 22% of the same period in 2019; and the number of people booked through Ctrip has recovered to 2019 42% in the same period, almost twice the market level.
In the recovery of Macau’s tourism industry, Ctrip also actively participates in it. In addition to cooperating with Air Macau, Ctrip has also partnered with Black Diamond partners Sands China Co., Ltd. and Golden Diamond partners Wynn Resorts (Macau) Co., Ltd., Melco Crown Entertainment Co., Ltd., and MGM Grand Superco Co., Ltd. We will deepen cooperation in various fields such as hotels, shopping, food, etc., promote the transformation of tourism products, innovative marketing and communication, and jointly promote the recovery of Macau’s tourism economy. At this summit, with the support of Macau Tourism Administration and Macau International Trade Promotion Agency, Ctrip also announced the launch of cooperation with the Macau Special Administrative Region Government in 2022, which will further enrich Macau’s core motivation to build a world tourism and leisure center.
Ctrip’s choice to gather with global partners in Macau this time is a symbol of its firm belief that China’s outbound travel market will eventually recover. On the other hand, Sun Jie also believes that China’s inbound tourism has great potential, and Ctrip has a lot to do in this field in the future.
“Ctrip is also actively proposing the “14th Five-Year Plan” for cultural tourism and recommending a sound inbound tourism promotion system, such as providing personalized products for overseas tourists, improving the convenience of online visas, and mobile payments, etc.,” said Sun Jie, experience As tested by the epidemic, Ctrip and its partners in the tourism industry have more solid basic skills and closer cooperation. “Everything will pass, and the future will be better.”