A ban on international travel during the pandemic did not stymie people’s desire to travel. In fact, it fueled it. Moreover, a significant online presence of famous travel destinations created unprecedented demand for new experiences.
In a conversation with Economy Middle East, Amanda Wang, vice-president, Global Destinations at Trip.com Group, explains how the tourism industry has embraced digitalization to expand its reach. At the same time, some destinations, because of their pre-pandemic policies still in force, are struggling in a reviving market.
Excerpts from an interview:
How have travelers’ preferences shifted in recent years, and how is Trip.com adapting to meet these changing demands?
For most of us, travel was not possible during the pandemic. It might be natural to assume that this might lead travellers to become less connected with destinations, but in fact the opposite is true. Enabled by digital transformation, people around the world immersed themselves in destinations online. Initiatives like our own in-destination livestreams proved hugely popular. When travellers returned to the skies, they journeyed abroad with renewed passion, and a desire for deeper experiences. Increasingly inspired by digital content, travellers are venturing beyond the beaten path to discover the wonders of the world.
As we expect global travel to exceed pre-pandemic numbers by the end of this year, alongside the exponential growth in emerging destinations, we also see that immersive digital content will continue to play an important role in determining where travellers decide to go and what they do. In line with this trend, we continue to explore novel and innovative ways for destinations to connect with travellers, and to date, we have held over 900 in-destination livestreams with more than 2.1 billion cumulative views, generating an average transaction volume of $3-5 million per session. We expect this trend to continue and evolve, as emerging technologies like AI offer new possibilities for personalized engagement, and we look forward to continuing to work with destinations to capture these opportunities.
Are you seeing a rise in interest in specific types of travel experiences, such as wellness tourism, adventure travel, or cultural immersion? And what are the top trends shaping travelers’ preferences?
Internationally, we’ve seen the boom in entertainment and event-driven tourism. People, and especially younger travellers, are increasingly drawn to destinations by, but not only for, major events such as concerts. This trend is driving surging growth in the leisure tourism sector, and on our platforms, we’ve seen orders for ‘entertainment + travel’ products increase by more than 70 percent over the past year.
Responding to this trend, we see considerable investment in the development of the entertainment and leisure sector around the world, including in the UAE, where the market is forecast to be worth $20 billion within the next three years. Internationally, the sector will be worth as much as $2.38 trillion within the next decade. Destinations responding to this trend are thriving. Renowned for its world-class luxury lifestyle experiences and leading MICE events, Dubai has seen an uptick in visits of around 200 percent from 2019 levels. With its rich culture, the leisure sector in Saudi Arabia is growing rapidly, up almost 700 percent from 2019 levels.
We see vast opportunities for destinations to tap into this trend not only to drive economic growth, but also to encourage and facilitate deeper experiences of cultures and communities. Technologies like AI promise to empower users with an unprecedented wealth of in-destination tips, in an intuitive and accessible way. Users now have at their fingertips a personalized travel guide and itinerary assistant, with an intricate understanding of both destinations and their preference, enabling a more immersive and curated travel experience.
What are the challenges the global travel industry is facing today, and how is Trip.com navigating these obstacles?
While we expect global travel volume to reach and even exceed 2019 numbers this year, some bottlenecks remain, which are preventing the international travel market from reaching its full growth potential. Ease of access to visas and the recovery of industry capacity, especially for direct flights, are key factors in enabling travel and driving growth. With its friendly visa policies, the UAE is one destination which is leading the way in attracting travellers, and on our platforms, we’ve seen triple-digit growth in visits from 2019 levels.
We see that destinations like Dubai addressing these factors are exceeding pre-pandemic volume. In other parts of the world, a post-pandemic travel boom has given rise to discussions about the challenge of ‘over-tourism’.
We believe this presents both a challenge and an opportunity. Effective content marketing opens up possibilities for destinations, traditional and less well-known, to better connect with and inspire travellers in ways that contribute to the economy and their communities. This can help alleviate the pressure on over-crowded spots, as well as drive more equal and sustainable economic development.
How are new technologies, such as AI and big data, influencing the way Trip.com collaborates with destinations to enhance the travelers’ experience? Can you elaborate on how AI is being leveraged to personalize the user experience?
AI promises to change the way we think about and plan travel. These technologies combine vast insights with an understanding of user preferences to curate results, offering an unprecedented level of both detail and customization. With the ability to simply ask our intelligent assistant TripGenie and receive a complete customized itinerary in an instant, users are empowered to focus less on the tedious details of planning, and more on the inspiring aspects of travel.
Apart from making travel more efficient and easier to plan, our AI-powered lists, such as Trip.Best, offer tailored tips and recommendations to ensure travellers make the most of their experiences. Based on crowdsourced reviews and booking history, our Trip.Best Global 100 list also provides an intuitive and reliable way for users to discover the most highly rated and trending destinations worldwide in a variety of categories. Renowned for its luxurious lifestyle, stunning architecture and world-class entertainment, many of Dubai’s iconic properties made the list, including ‘Atlantis, the Palm’, which topped the ‘Family’ category.
For destinations, these technologies present an exciting new way to immerse travellers in the best experiences they have to offer. When we work together to achieve this effectively, we attract higher yield and longer stays, delivering a better experience for travellers, and greater returns for destinations, their businesses and their communities.
What destinations or travel experiences do you predict will gain significant popularity in the next few years?
Destinations addressing the major challenges and opportunities in travel are reaping the benefits, recording growth above 2019 levels. Singapore and the UAE are well known for their friendly visa policies, mature infrastructure and rich entertainment sector, but we are seeing even greater growth opportunities in emerging markets.
According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, overall, the GCC and Middle East is growing faster than any other region. On our platforms, this year, we’ve seen surging growth of around 700 percent on 2019 levels in visitor numbers to the region. Destinations like the UAE and Saudi Arabia are leading this trend, with forward-looking investments, commitments and ambitious visitor targets for the next decade.
Through our collaborative efforts to promote and showcase the unique offerings of these destinations, we see them well on track to reach this potential. As of this year, on our platforms globally, we’ve seen around a 300 percent increase in visitors to the UAE from 2019 levels, while visits to Saudi Arabia are more than 30 times higher than before the pandemic.
We are growing these markets by working with our partners and leveraging technologies like livestreams and AI-enhanced guides, alongside collaborative campaigns, to make these destinations more visible, attractive and accessible to new groups of travellers.
Looking ahead, how do you envision the role of online travel platforms like Trip.com evolving in shaping global travel patterns?
Investments in capacity and policy commitments provide the basis for travellers to act on their inspiration, but it is engaging digital content that is playing a key role in inspiring travellers around the world to discover the charm of emerging destinations like the Middle East. Through engagement with digital content, travellers are intrigued by the cuisine, culture and attractions that lesser-known destinations have to offer and are exploring new horizons. Personalized insights enabled by AI are empowering travellers to connect more deeply with destinations and discover new experiences.
As travel becomes increasingly content and experience driven, and as this content becomes both more immersive and accessible, platforms like ours will increasingly take on the role of not only facilitating travel bookings, but also informing and inspiring travellers.
New experiences, such as our AI-powered Trip.Best list, provide exciting new ways for destinations to connect with travellers to showcase the best they have to offer, and to engage and grow targeted audiences. Travellers can look forward to a more efficient, accessible and personalized booking journey, along with richer, more immersive in-destination experiences.
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