Trip.com Decodes the ‘3 Ls’ Shaping Chinese Outbound Travel
Photo Credit: Jane Sun, CEO of Trip.com Group, delivering her keynote presentation to partners at the Global Partner Summit. Trip.com Group
Skift Take
Chinese travelers are going longer, farther, and a little off-script. Trip.com’s “3 Ls” may sound like marketing code, but it's clear that long-haul is back, and Europe’s cashing in.
Chinese travelers are continuing to stretch their trips, and that shift is showing up clearly in Trip.com Group’s latest results. The company said outbound hotel and flight bookings rose “close to 20%” year-on-year in the third quarter and climbed to about 140% of 2019 levels. The longer Golden Week, extended by one extra day this year, helped push outbound bookings to roughly 30% above last year during that period.
At the earnings call on Tuesday, CEO and Director Jane Sun summed up the shift as the “3Ls” - long stays, long distance and long-tail travel. This meant people stayed away longer, traveled farther, and picked destinations beyond the usual names.
Europe saw the sharpest gains. Trip.com said bookings to Iceland and Norway more than doubled year-over-year, while Spain, Italy and Germany grew about 70%. The company credits this to more available flights and growing interest among Chin
