Under the Radar: Trip.com’s COO on China’s travel recovery, booking recovery in Japan; partnerships with AirAsia’s CapitalA

It’s all about travel today as we speak to one of the world’s leading online travel agencies – Trip.com.  On its own, Trip.com is a familiar name to many, with a network of over 1.4 million hotels in 200 countries and regions, as well as more than 2 million individual flight routes connecting over 5,000 cities around the globe.  It is actually part of the NASDAQ and Hong Kong Exchange listed Trip.com Group which includes other brands such as Ctrip, Qunar and more notably, Skyscanner.  The Group had in February reported a 105 per cent year-on-year growth in Q4 revenue to RMB 10.3 billion (US$1.5 billion), higher than market expectations of RMB 10.2 billion.  The showing was said to be boosted by China’s tourism recovery post-pandemic. But what were the other factors at play and how far did Trip.com as a brand contribute to the Group’s balance sheet? Speaking of growth drivers, Trip.com Group had earlier noted that it is embarking on a “Hotel + X” strategy” to cater to millennial and Gen Z consumers who are looking to purchase both accommodations and experiences in one go.  So what does this strategy look like when it comes to Trip.com as a standalone platform and how far has the move to cross-sell products bolstered its top and bottom lines? Meanwhile, Trip.com Group recently signed a deal with AirAsia owner Capital A to enhance travel offerings within Asia. But again, what will this mean for the platform Trip.com? On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Schubert Lou, Chief Operating Officer, Trip.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.