Articles tagged “trip.com”

Despite an ongoing longing for foreign tourists, Wuhan has come most of the way back tourism-wise from the bleakest days of the provincial capital's history earlier this year. Lessons for the rest of the world? Once tourists feel safe, they will return in big numbers.

In some respects, travel companies are prisoners of their geographic strengths and weaknesses in the Covid-19 era. Operational considerations aside, it sure didn't hurt Trip.com Group to be based in China.

Amidst the carnage, there are job openings in the travel industry. However, many of the opportunities won't get rank-and-file restaurant or hospitality workers back collecting paychecks and benefits anytime soon.

An unfortunate first-mover in the pandemic, China, in turn, got an early start on its travel recovery. But officials at major travel companies there view a robust bounce back as taking a year or longer — and much of that pace depends on how quickly coronavirus gets neutralized in the rest of the world.

The online travel industry is marginally better positioned to deal with this current outbreak than many of their suppliers in the hotel and airline industry. Still, the damage will get worse — and be severe and long-lasting.

For Trip.com Group’s top leader, the message is clear. Countries around the world should not squander any chances to control the virus, and neither should the travel industry let a serious crisis go to waste by not seeking out new opportunities.

To hear that signs of recovery are in sight from China’s biggest travel firm is offering the battered tourism industry a glimmer of hope.

Airbnb overtook Expedia in room nights booked in the first quarter of 2019, but questions loom for 2020. Will Airbnb lose its focus as it vows to go public and become a broader online travel agency? Will Expedia, which seems lost in terms of creating a revised strategy, find its way? So many headlines to come.

A new system that enables the sharing of guest data between hotels and the authorities is meant to increase productivity at hotels. Really? Better communication is needed.

EDreams is certainly putting a lot of effort into its Prime subscription offering. The test will be how it goes down in other markets and how it performs over a number of years. Do the numbers stack up over the long term and will people keep renewing?