Hi. It’s Brady again.
Countries around the world are easing pandemic travel restrictions. Travel isn’t quite the same—there are swab tests, contact tracing apps, vaccination records, and plenty of planning involved. But for those who want or need to cross from one country to another, the pathways are mostly clear.
There are a few nations where this isn’t the case. It’s still difficult to enter, say, China. Those who are prepared to invest time into the process must navigate byzantine rules. The implication is that those within China find it difficult to take trips abroad too. So what is the country’s largest online travel agency to do?
Trip.com poured resources into cultivating domestic travel options for those who had the itch to switch up their surroundings, even if they had to brave the possibility of being caught in sudden lockdowns. By steering consumers to specific destinations and servicing certain formats of travel, like high-end package tours, Trip.com has managed to recover quickly.
Julianna spoke with one of the company’s co-founders, James Liang, to get his take on Trip.com’s adaptation to unforeseen business conditions. You can read the article here.