Ctrip Group Japan

Mr. Su, CEO of Ctrip Group Japan said, "Our strength is that we provide all travel-related services, including pre-trip preparation, provision of restaurant information during stays and after-trip services."

Ctrip (Trip.com) is an online travel agency founded in Shanghai, China, in 1999. Its website provides everything necessary for trips, such as airline tickets and hotel reservation services, help in obtaining visas, currency exchange, the purchase of admission tickets to local facilities, a service that allows customers to buy souvenirs before their departure and receive them at their destinations and the Ctrip Gourmet List—an online service for restaurant search and lists of recommended restaurants.

In 2014, to cater to the needs of Chinese tourists who want to visit Japan, Ctrip established a Japanese subsidiary, CTRIP JAPAN, in Tokyo. In 2017, with business expansion in the country, Ctrip separated the hotel business from CTRIP JAPAN, and established Ctrip International Travel Japan. Afterwards, the company first expanded its transportation business division into the Japanese market and established Ctrip Air Ticketing Japan. Then Ctrip Group Japan was formed, consisting of three companies, including CTRIP JAPAN (see the table). Ctrip International Travel Japan opened four local branches and procured more local hotel rooms to meet the needs of visitors in local areas other than Tokyo. CTRIP JAPAN only had five employees in 2014, but now Ctrip Group Japan has 84.

Mr. Su explained the charm of Japan as a tourist destination as follows:

"Japan is close to China in proximity, rich in tourism resources and provides high-quality services, resulting in repeat customers. In China, more families now make trips during long vacations, for example around the Lunar New Year. In particular, July and August, the summer vacation period for children, are the peak months for our business. Currently, Chinese people who take consecutive holidays and visit Japan are increasing. In Japan, there are many family theme parks, and the food, based on the same rice culture as China, is easily acceptable even to children. These also make Japan a popular tourist destination."

According to Mr. Su, “Local areas in Japan have more distinct features compared to those in other countries. They are attractive because they have traditional cultures and offer many experience-based activities. There are still many tourist destinations with which people who have visited Japan before are unfamiliar.”

Mr. Su said, "To fulfill the needs of Chinese tourists all around Japan, we want to provide them with newer, higher-quality service in alliance with more local governments.” He is motivated to expand into the local markets.

Specifically speaking, in 2017, Ctrip International Travel Japan held an explanatory meeting for accommodation and commercial facilities in Tochigi Prefecture. Nikko, home to a World Heritage Site, is a famous tourist destination in Tochigi that is relatively close to Tokyo and a frequent destination for daytrips. So providing information on attractive tourism resources other than Nikko is needed to encourage travelers to extend their stay for one or two nights in Tochigi.

Ctrip Group Japan has already featured local amusement parks on its website and provided discount and tax-free shopping information in collaboration with hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops in Tochigi. To provide travelers with more beneficial information simultaneously, it is indispensable to receive information and cooperation from local governments and tourism-related companies. In addition, the deployment of social network service (SNS) applications used in China plays a key role in the spreading of information. Wechat and Weibo have been used to showcase Tochigi Prefecture.

Ctrip Group Japan also aims to expand its business further into local areas that do not receive many Chinese tourists. In 2017, the group conducted a campaign together with the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) to draw tourists to the Tohoku region. Mr. Su said, "We plan to conduct the Tohoku campaign again this year as well. If possible, to cover the Tohoku area, for which we do not have a base, we would like to establish a presence in the area of Sendai."

Mr. Su said, “We want to collaborate with travel-related companies and Japanese companies with big data analysis technology in promoting our brand overseas. The collaboration must be based on each company's strengths to create a wide range of business and new business models.”

According to him, surprisingly, approximately 50% of Chinese tourists in Japan, which is about 7.36 million people (2017), have used Ctrip Group Japan. Through analyzing the immense amount of customer information it possesses, the group can provide customized information for each tourist in an appropriate and timely manner.

Now, thanks to promotional activities in collaboration with relevant local governments and companies, customers who have booked a hotel room receive an email containing information on discounts three days before departure, while those planning to visit a local region receive an email with information about the area one month before. Customers who have traveled first class or business class receive information about special upper-class discounts. And those who have visited Kyushu before receive updated information about the region.

The group does not simply secure technology in Japan. To further improve their services in the country, they plan to raise the profile of Ctrip across a wide range of industries and increase the number of Japanese employees. The ratio of Japanese managers to Chinese managers is now 4:6 in Ctrip Group Japan, and they aim to increase employment of Japanese by focusing on advertising. Currently, to recruit new graduates, they are actively implementing internship programs by working with universities. Training programs are already implemented for newly hired graduates at headquarters in China. Mr. Su intends to launch them in Japan too.

(Interviewed July 2018)