SHANGHAI, 9 June 2022: Trip.com Group’s corporate travel arm, Trip.Biz, has released a white paper delving into the trends defining the reviving corporate travel management sector in mainland China and the marked shift to using travel management companies (TMCs).
The Trip.Biz white paper summarises the recovery of corporate travel according to the latest industry data, focusing on China – the world’s largest corporate travel market.
Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) data shows that China led the world in business travel spending in 2021, after a 38% decline in 2020. As the domestic market recovered, in 2021, China’s business travel spending saw a growth rate of 31.7%, more than double the global growth rate.
The paper shows that 16.3% more companies in China worked with a travel management company) in 2021 compared to 2020, rising by 24.6% in first-tier cities in China such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
According to GBTA forecasts, China’s business travel market is expected to recover and surpass pre-pandemic levels by 2024, with total business travel spending exceeding USD400 billion.
Trip.com Group 2021 earnings data reflects the strong recovery momentum in China’s business travel market. It showed hotel bookings on Trip.Biz grew by nearly triple digits in the fourth quarter and full year of 2021 compared to the same period in 2019.
Accordingly, Trip.com Group increased its corporate travel supply chain investment by 86%, product technology investment by 86% and service efficiency by 110% compared to 2019.
Trip.Biz currently provides travel management services to 13,000 large enterprises and 620,000 small and medium-sized enterprises, among which over 300 are Fortune 500 companies and over 10,000 are Sino-foreign joint venture businesses.
Trip.Biz, as a Trip.com Group brand, is implementing a global growth strategy based on the group’s “Local Focus, Global Vision” approach. Core to this strategy is the efficiency, product selection, service quality and services available on the Trip.Biz app.
“The biggest industry change brought on by the pandemic is the recognition by customers of the true value of TMC offerings. Specifically, the convenience and flexibility of booking, changing and refunding, a one-stop booking experience for all products worldwide, a global travel guarantee and SOS services, and 24/7 multilingual customer support. These are precisely the areas in which online TMCs like Trip.Biz specialise,” commented Trip.Biz chief executive officer Steven Zhang.
“We are actively expanding our overseas service network through partnerships to enable our customers to efficiently connect to our local and global business travel products through the Trip.Biz app anytime, anywhere in the world. We deliver efficiency and choice, offering competitive prices and the highest global service standards, allowing travellers to enjoy a world-class business travel experience.”
Trip.Biz’s international business growth plan aims to build on existing client needs, initially focusing on regional growth across North and Southeast Asia and supporting business clients expanding in the region and globally.
To download the Trip.Biz 2021-2022 Corporate Travel White Paper in full, contact: [email protected].
(Source: Trip.com Group)
