What Trump’s WeChat Ban May Mean for the Travel Sector
Photo Credit: An image of a WeChat app user. Many U.S. based travel companies are reviewing an executive order from President Trump that bans WeChat, a superapp owned by tech giant Tencent. Tencent
Skift Take
Trump's ban on the Chinese superapp WeChat may turn out to be a mere annoyance for many Chinese travelers. But it could cause real harm to some U.S. travel organizations.
It's been hip for years for many travel marketers to tout their use of WeChat, the omnipresent Chinese digital service app, as a way to reach Chinese tourists. But that quickly became imperiled when President Donald Trump issued an executive order that gave U.S. companies 45 days to stop engaging with WeChat allegedly over espionage and data security issues.
See the text of the August 6 executive order here. With the Trump administration sparring with the Chinese government over coronavirus and trade issues, he also banned in the U.S. the popular video-sharing app, TikTok, and opened up a path for a U.S. company to acquire TikTok's operations stateside.
Many U.S. companies in the travel sector have courted Chinese visitors since 2017 by using WeChat, a superapp owned by tech giant Tencent. Several of them may now need to change their tactics.
"WeChat is more than a messaging app," said Amit Anand, co-founder and managing partner at Singapore-based Jungle Ventures. "It's a lif
