Trip.com Group anticipates peak travel season over May Day holiday

SHANGHAI, China, April 23, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Leading international travel services provider Trip.com Group today released its 2020 May Day Tourism Trends Report for the Chinese market, revealing a significant increase in bookings over the period, and tendencies towards a particular mode of domestic travel in the country, where the company is the largest travel services provider.

Coinciding with the gradual easing of restrictions on movement related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the five-day May Day holiday marks a significant milestone for recovery of the tourism industry.

According to the report, May Day is expected to mark the first peak for travel in 2020, with travel figures possibly doubling those of the April Qingming Festival long weekend, which the China Tourism Research Institute estimates to have attracted over 43 million trips and an income of more than RMB 8.2 billion (approx. USD 1.2 billion).

According to hotel reservation statistics, the most popular destinations over the upcoming holiday are projected to be Sanya, Shanghai, Lijiang, Anji, Nanjing, Deqing, Hangzhou and Suzhou.

The report also indicates a trend towards a new mode of travel. In response to restrictions on mass-gatherings and movement, popular tourist attractions have implemented reservation systems to keep visitor traffic below 30% of maximum capacity, and travelers have shifted their sights from inter-provincial and outbound travel to locally-oriented tourism.

Booking numbers for smaller (3-6 participants), shorter (4-day and 3-day), and local group tours, using private cars and tour guides, have increased exponentially on Trip.com Group platforms. Car rentals have been identified as a popular mode of transport this year, with reservations to date reaching 70% of the same figure last year, owing to the privacy, cleanliness and freedom of car travel. Local tour guides have also been particularly popular this year, with total reservation numbers tripling month-on-month, and Internet ‘celebrity’ tour guides having already sold out for the May Day holiday period.

Younger travelers in their teens and twenties have emerged as the driving force over the May Day holiday, comprising 57% of total bookings for the period. Innovative, interactive and youthful marketing methods, including online live broadcasts and pre-sales discounts, have attracted the participation of this demographic, resulting in a 277% month-on-month increase in bookings for hotels that participated in the campaign. Throughout April, Trip.com Group Chairman James Liang appeared on live broadcasts in Huzhou, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, and Jiangsu, on each occasion attracting transaction volumes of well over RMB 10 million (approx. USD 1.4 million) within one hour.

“The pandemic has presented a great challenge for all of us,” said Trip.com Group Chairman James Liang. “However, travel is a resilient and important industry, and coupled with the easing of restrictions as the pandemic is contained in China, a shift towards new, innovative modes of tourism is driving promising growth over the upcoming holiday, and indicative of new heights for the industry in the near future.”

About Trip.com Group:

Trip.com Group is a leading one-stop travel service provider comprising of Trip.com, Ctrip, Skyscanner, and Qunar. Across its platforms, Trip.com Group enables local partners and travelers around the world to make informed and cost-effective bookings for travel products and services, through the aggregation of comprehensive travel related information and resources, and an advanced transaction platform consisting of mobile apps, Internet websites and 24/7 customer service centers. Founded in 1999 and listed on NASDAQ in 2003, Trip.com Group has become one of the best-known travel brands in the world, with the mission of 'making every trip the perfect trip'.