What’s Next for Trip.com Group as Coronavirus Crisis Subsides in China?

Chinese online travel giant Trip.com was one of the first in the global tourism industry to be hit when the coronavirus outbreak began in China in late January. The booming Chinese outbound travel market soon came to a screeching halt as millions of Chinese hunkered down and countries imposed entry restrictions on travelers from China. More than two months after the global pandemic ripped through the global economy, some glimmer of hope is now emerging from China as the country gradually returns to normality. During its recent earnings call, Trip.com Group CEO Jane Sun and Chairman James Liang even argued that green shoots of recovery are now underway for domestic tourism in China. Skift spoke to Sun for her take on navigating the coronavirus pandemic, and how China’s improving conditions could offer encouragement to the rest of the world that the crisis could be managed and turned around.

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The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. Skift: What’s the most difficult challenging issue during the coronavirus outbreak? Jane Sun: There are two stages. The first wave came when the virus was really severe in China. There were lots of cancellations, so we had to work day and night to handle a 20-times volume increase in cancellations from customers as well as changes and delays of trips. The second way is right now. The virus is well under control in China, so we need to boost the confidence of the consumer and come up with very creative products so that consumers can resume confidence in travel and boost the recovery of domestic business. Skift: The rest of the world now goes into lockdown even as China is opening up again, so how are you dealing with that? Does that mean that Chinese travelers can only travel within China for the time being? Sun: China is already taking the lead in these difficult situations, so the rest of the world has the data from China’s e