On November 17th, at the Global Travel Merchants Conference held in Kunming, Ctrip teamed up with Ant Group, China Travel Service, HiSeas International, CNN, Guilin Tang Dynasty International Travel Service and other industry chain related enterprises to launch an inbound and outbound travel collaboration alliance initiative. In the initiative, they stated that they will start from the dimensions of inbound travel service portal, overseas card mobile payment, domestic destination overseas communication, and team travel service quality, to promote the full chain facilitation of inbound travel and improve the gaming experience of foreign tourists.
Ctrip stated that it will build an inbound travel service platform on the Ctrip International version, creating a one-stop portal for foreigners to visit China. This platform will provide vivid and detailed explanations on how to travel to China, where to play, and how to play, in a graphic and video format. It will also provide visa processing tips, hotel and scenic spots, mobile payment and communication, transportation and catering introductions, bookings, and other services, allowing foreign tourists to experience the modern and convenient travel and consumption in China.
China Travel Service (CTS) advocates increasing the marketing and promotion efforts of Chinese destinations, optimizing inbound tourism products and routes, and strengthening multilingual outreach and tour guide team building; Ant Group proposes to strengthen the research and development of cross-border payment technology, support tourists to use electronic wallets and foreign cards when entering the country, and use digital payments to assist inbound consumption.
The recovery potential of inbound tourism is enormous. Liang Jianzhang, co-founder and chairman of Ctrip Group, revealed that some major economies' inbound tourism revenue accounts for 1% -3% of GDP. If China's inbound tourism revenue accounts for 1.5% of GDP, it will bring over a trillion yuan of market growth space.