Artificial intelligence is not merely a technological advancement; it is fundamentally reshaping human experiences, particularly in industries like travel. This was a central theme as Jane Sun, CEO of Trip.com Group, engaged in a revealing dialogue with Bloomberg’s Anders Melin at the 2025 Bloomberg Business Summit Asean in Kuala Lumpur. The discussion offered a profound look into how AI is revolutionizing global travel, unlocking new opportunities for innovation and growth across the Asean tourism sector and beyond.
Sun, at the helm of one of the world’s largest online travel agencies, overseeing an operation with over 40,000 employees and more than $7 billion in revenue, shared her unique perspective on the industry's trajectory. Her insights underscored a delicate balance between leveraging cutting-edge technology and preserving the intrinsic human desire for exploration and connection.
A powerful underlying insight from Sun was the profound human element inherent in travel. Despite media narratives often highlighting global divisions and negativity, she emphasized that direct experience paints a different picture. "Travel really gives you a tangible feeling of what's really going on in the world," Sun stated, recalling her visits to refugee camps and impoverished villages. She asserted that in her extensive travels to hundreds of countries, she has "never seen bad people, evil people," underscoring travel's unique ability to foster understanding and unity. This belief in travel as a means "to link people together" forms a philosophical cornerstone for Trip.com's strategic direction.
The interview illuminated three key emerging trends, which Sun refers to as the "three E's," shaping the future of the travel market and Trip.com’s focus. The first is **Events plus Travel**, catering primarily to Generation Z. This demographic, having grown up with global exposure, seeks more than traditional sightseeing; they crave immersive experiences. "You need to give them a reason, a good experience for them to think about travel to that region," Sun explained, citing the popularity of concerts like Blackpink or major sporting events like the Olympics and F1 races. Trip.com strategically packages travel around these cultural touchstones, recognizing Gen Z's desire for active engagement and unique memories.
The second trend is **Elderly-friendly travel**, targeting retirees who are increasingly healthy, energetic, and possess both time and financial resources. These travelers seek longer stays and often prefer off-peak seasons, presenting a valuable opportunity for destinations to fill capacity during quieter periods. By collaborating with local partners, Trip.com aims to curate experiences that cater to this demographic's specific needs and interests, ensuring comfort and enrichment. The third "E" is **Emerging Markets with educational purposes**. Sun highlighted destinations like Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa during winter, and Iceland, Greenland, and Finland in summer, as growing choices. These "long-tail" destinations offer unique cultural and natural experiences, often with an educational slant, and also help alleviate over-tourism in more popular locales. The focus here is on providing enriching travel that broadens horizons, appealing to families and adventurous individuals alike.
Trip.com's strategy to capitalize on these trends is a sophisticated blend of technology, robust service, and a nuanced understanding of market dynamics. Sun elaborated on an internal "5-5-4-4-3" formula, where the highest value (5) is placed on service and branding, followed by technology and products (4), and finally pricing (3). This prioritization reflects a commitment to quality and customer trust over mere cost leadership. "We never brand ourselves as the lowest price leader in the market," Sun affirmed, stressing that their aim is to be competitive while delivering superior value.
A striking example of this high-end service focus is Trip.com's ability to sell a $200,000, 80-day round-the-world tour in a mere 17 seconds pre-COVID. This demonstrates the immense buying power of their clientele and the trust they place in the brand. Sun emphasized the critical role of human-centric customer service, noting that their call centers aim to answer within 30 seconds. In crisis situations, such as an earthquake or conflict, their teams reach out to affected customers within two minutes, offering assistance with safe hotels, hot meals, and priority travel arrangements. This unwavering commitment to customer safety and peace of mind fosters unparalleled loyalty.
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Despite the digital age, Trip.com maintains 6,000 physical stores across 300 Chinese cities. This seemingly counter-intuitive approach addresses a crucial need for confidence, particularly in third and fourth-tier cities where customers might hesitate to book high-value trips online. These stores provide a tangible point of contact, reinforcing trust through an Online-Merge-Offline (OMO) strategy. AI, meanwhile, plays a pivotal role behind the scenes and in customer-facing applications. Sun highlighted TripGenie, their AI agent, which can engage in conversational searches, automatically generating personalized recommendations based on complex criteria. AI also enhances productivity, saving 30-50% of coding time for engineers, and improves content generation for marketing.
Looking ahead, Sun is optimistic about international travel, predicting it will account for over 50% of Trip.com's business, driven by a globalized mindset. Key factors for attracting travelers include peaceful destinations, friendly visa policies (like Singapore's free visa), and direct flights, especially for the growing trend of last-minute bookings. While technology and AI are vital for efficiency and personalization, Sun firmly believes that the "human touch" remains indispensable. Travel, at its core, is a deeply human experience, and Trip.com's strategy is to ensure that even as AI transforms the industry, the warmth and assurance of human connection remain at its heart.
