Liang Jianzhang, Chairman Of The Board Of Directors Of Ctrip: Accelerating The Integration Of The Domestic Tourism Industry And Accelerating The Development Of New Tourism Formats

During the new crown pneumonia epidemic, tourism was once at a halt to avoid crowds, but tourism demand remained. The industry did not lose heart. This confidence came from the needs of the people.

Today, the epidemic has entered the normal stage of prevention and control. With the promotion of resumption of work and resumption of production, tourism is also gradually recovering. In the future, will online live broadcasting become a fixed platform for the OTA platform? How should domestic tourism seize development opportunities if overseas travel is limited?

Regarding this, Liang Jianzhang, chairman of Ctrip's co founder and chairman of the board of directors, told the twenty-first Century economic news reporter that the epidemic accelerated the integration of tourism industry. Online live broadcast made the relationship between the hotel and OTA platform more closely. This new tourism communication format will continue in the future. At the same time, Liang Jianzhang said that the mainland tourism industry can join hands with Hong Kong and Macau to launch holiday products.

Live changing OTA platform

Twenty-first Century: is there a strong correlation between hotels and platforms during the outbreak? Will hotels and tourist attractions take advantage of the OTA platform after they participate in the live broadcast?

Liang Jianzhang: the cooperation between hotels and platforms is more intense during the epidemic period, because the OTA platform plays a larger role in introducing products and stimulating demand, especially the role of stimulating demand is more prominent during the epidemic. The OTA platform can help customers compare the products in the same area or across District Hotel, such as making the list of parent child hotels to help guests fully understand the hotel products suitable for parent-child tours.

Of course, OTA platform needs to do a lot of things. The OTA platform processes the hotel's preferences and product packaging and presentation, and then pushes them to the customers.

The OTA platform has a high efficiency of live broadcast, and it will focus on a good product in a certain region and even in the whole country. When hotels and scenic spots start to build their own customers, they will attract some guests to watch their live broadcast directly, but there are still more guests who want to watch more efficient live broadcast.

After the outbreak, hotels and scenic spots will actually take part of the traffic on the OTA platform, but there is a gap between the flow rate of a single hotel and the overall product.

Twenty-first Century: how to evaluate the effect of your live broadcast and how many points do you give yourself? How do you feel about the current travel situation?

Liang Jianzhang: with the increasing experience of the selected products, the efficiency and efficiency of our live broadcast have been improved. Now we score 80 points for ourselves. Now the market demand for live broadcast is quite strong. Our purchasing team, selection team and production team have guaranteed the high quality of Ctrip live broadcast. However, we are still at the exploratory stage in the overseas product live broadcast. There are two main obstacles: first, there are more restrictions on overseas travel. Two, foreign tourists are not familiar with Ctrip brand.

From the point of view of sales volume, a large proportion of live sales have been contributed by the customers in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. They may be the largest holiday group in China, followed by customers in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. From the aspect of products, Southwest China, including Yunnan, Sichuan and Tibet, has launched some good holiday hotels in recent years, and has become a tourist sanctuary in the eyes of the whole nation.

The tourist resources and tourist resources in Guangdong are second only to those of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and southwest China. But if we can combine resources from Hong Kong and Macao, I think it will also be very successful.

Twenty-first Century: what is the secret of successful broadcast? How to locate the selected products and scenic spots in the live broadcast?

Liang Jianzhang: the secret of live broadcast success is in price, two in the selling point of products. Take Guangzhou as an example, Changlong is the best and best in the global animal theme park. We will not only sell this selling point to the Chinese people, but will also spread it to the world in the future.

Our strategy team will design the live broadcast plan according to the local tourism characteristics. As for my personal display, I will have some ideas. The team will also design according to the local cultural characteristics. For example, the promotion of Tianjin must focus on the characteristics of crosstalk. Of course, at the same time, we should also consider the feasibility of live broadcast. For example, Shaolin stick is the limit of my performance.

Twenty-first Century: what are the characteristics of customers who live by placing orders? As the market has resumed, will the conditions of live products increase?

Liang Jianzhang: many of the customers who are placing orders are guests in the industry, or those who are more familiar with the industry because they know more about the intensity of the discount. As the market recovers, the discount will become smaller and the conditions will tighten, but the normal price will also rise, so the direct stream of passengers should still be maintained.

Twenty-first Century: will online live broadcasting continue after the outbreak? What is the biggest change in the OTA platform?

Liang Jianzhang: now entering the APP home page of Ctrip can directly see the entrance of live broadcast, which will become a fixed plate, called "special price, explosive Hotel". During the epidemic period, the live broadcast will continue, which will help to revive the industry and allow customers to experience preferential products as early as possible. In the future, we will broadcast live at home and abroad.

Online live broadcasting has greatly changed the OTA platform, and began to require us to give a deep introduction to the product.

The reception capacity of tourist attractions is limited. Before the outbreak, the surrounding tourists can meet the sales demand of tourist attractions, so the demand for national promotion is not high. However, during the epidemic period, the passenger flow decreased, and the scenic area paid special attention to the nationwide promotion. Ctrip's live broadcast could provide tourism inspiration and destination for the cross regional tourists through the in-depth product introduction, and promote the tourists who did not have the tourism plan to travel.

New opportunities for tourism development

Twenty-first Century: will the epidemic speed up the speed of industry consolidation? Will Ctrip have new moves in investment and mergers and acquisitions?

Liang Jianzhang: after the outbreak, the speed of industry consolidation may accelerate. Relatively weak hotels, travel agencies will be integrated or reorganized, and until the epidemic has completely subsided, leisure and holiday products will be stronger. This is mainly due to the fact that outbound travel will be restricted for at least half a year, leading some high-end customers to choose high-quality vacation tours in China.

Ctrip has a special venture capital department responsible for the investment sector, but there are no new projects. We value high quality resort hotels or complexes. In two or three years or even longer, we will continue to invest in this area.

Twenty-first Century: when do you expect international tourism to open? What is the process of Ctrip in the international market?

Liang Jianzhang: at present, cross-border tourism has seen a small and partial loosening. For example, several countries in Europe, Singapore and Malaysia are loosening. This is a trend. Within countries are also loosening, even if the epidemic has been repeated, but the general trend is still loosening.

At present, some countries and overseas destinations have begun to relax Chinese people, especially in tourism oriented economy. China is often their largest source of tourists. They also offer a lot of preferential and marketing resources, but they still need the support of bilateral policies.

Twenty-first Century: when tourism is limited, what aspects should domestic tourism continue to promote?

Liang Jianzhang: as I mentioned before, the demand for nationwide promotion and popularization of domestic scenic spots has increased. In order to increase popularity, in recent years, domestic scenic spots have also explored a certain experience, that is, developing the night economy. The evening tour is an effective way to increase the consumption of tourists. In fact, many scenic spots, especially cultural and architectural landscapes, have higher value of development in the evenings than in the daytime, and can also fully reflect their product positioning. Therefore, I think domestic tourism can increase the intensity of night food and accommodation services and produce more products in this area.

Twenty-first Century: you mentioned the issue of "giving birth" many times in the live broadcast. What is the significance of population factor to the development of tourism?

Liang Jianzhang: every live broadcast will mention a little bit about "giving birth to children", mainly because I think traveling can enhance communication between children and adults, and children can learn new knowledge in the process of tourism. This is also a way of entertaining.

In fact, the significance of population to all walks of life is very significant, because the development of industry depends on the scale of creativity, talent and market. China can have the largest animal theme park in the world such as Changlong, mainly due to the largest urban agglomeration in the Pearl River Delta region, as well as all kinds of talents and creativity.

The development of tourism is mainly based on creativity, for example, the theme hotel is to win by creativity. Take the United States as an example, the resources and culture of the United States are not as good as that of Europe, but it also creates Las Vegas and Disney. This is the embodiment of making use of the advantages of population to create competitive tourism products. China has a larger population base, larger market and larger talent than any other country, so China has the opportunity to create tourism products that are leading the world.

Twenty-first Century: last year, Ctrip put forward the "G2" strategy, emphasizing "high quality and globalisation". But now the epidemic has caused countries to strengthen border control. Does Ctrip consider adjusting strategy? Are we considering increasing the intensity of the sinking market?

Liang Jianzhang: at present, overseas tours are limited, but we will continue to provide high quality domestic products and services. Of course, we have been exploring the sinking market.

If the high-end customers are restricted by overseas travel, they will tend to consume holiday products. In fact, the price of such holiday products is lower and the discount rate is greater. In the next few years, due to the fact that business meetings have not yet been resumed, I expect that the price of the high-end hotels will still maintain a higher discount rate, 5 star hotels, 4 star prices, 4 star hotels, and 3 star prices. This provides a window for many high-end hotels in the first tier cities to attract more customers from low tier cities.

Join hands to speed up recovery in Hong Kong and Macao

Twenty-first Century: Why did you choose Zhuhai as the location for the broadcast in the big bay area of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao? You have visited Zhuhai Hengqin for the two time. What do you suggest for Hengqin to build an international tourist island?

Liang Jianzhang: on the scale, Zhuhai Changlong is the largest hotel in the bay area. Secondly, the overall control of the epidemic situation in Macao, Hongkong is good. We hope to seize the opportunity before the full liberalization, and to lock in the preferential treatment. The process of gradual liberalization is also the process of introducing Hong Kong and Macao products through the live broadcast.

The government of Zhuhai and the state-run enterprises that run scenic spots are very active. The tourist conditions of Hengqin are very good. I also very much hope that Zhuhai has great plans. Zhuhai is next to Macao and Macao is one of the most concentrated hotels in the world. However, there is no place to develop leisure and holiday amusement scenes. Therefore, Hengqin and Macao can create a destination to attract tourists to spend a week or longer.

In addition, if facing overseas tourists, Hengqin can add elements of Chinese culture to the scenic spots so as to enhance the quality of scenic spots.

Twenty-first Century: at present, Hong Kong and Macao have already given support to the tourism market. Will Ctrip join hands with Hong Kong and Macao in the recovery period?

Liang Jianzhang: policy support is on the one hand. I also hope that Hongkong can cancel some of the epidemic prevention restrictions and reduce unnecessary measures such as duplication of quarantine. As long as this is achieved, there is no need for the government to subsidize too much. The tourism industry in Hong Kong and Macau will recover very well.

Twenty-first Century: what will happen to the tourism industry after repeated epidemic in some areas? Is the tourism industry ready to fight a protracted war?

Liang Jianzhang: Yes, the tourism industry must prepare for a protracted war. Local epidemic will have some impact on the local tourism industry, but if these effects can be controlled locally and the national level can reach a unified expectation for other areas' travel policies, I think the whole tourism industry can still return to normal.

Twenty-first Century: how do you evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of Guangdong's tourism market in terms of resource allocation?

Liang Jianzhang: the resort hotels in Guangdong are rich in resources, especially the representative of Changlong. Compared with Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, there are fewer products for rural vacation tourism in Guangdong, but there are more seaside resources and larger market potential.

If Hongkong's visa and epidemic prevention policy can be released as soon as possible and enter normal prevention and control, it will definitely help Guangdong's tourism brand development. Secondly, apart from Changlong, tourism products of some towns and pleasure boats also have great potential for development.

Twenty-first Century: what changes does the epidemic bring to parent-child tours?

Liang Jianzhang: high-end guests usually choose overseas as the destination of parent-child travel. After the summer vacation is postponed this year, I expect the demand for parent-child travel will rise. From the current popular hotel data and retrieval results, many tourists in hot spots are parents and children.

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