Trip.com Group

For the namesake travel agency, see Trip.com.
Trip.com Group Limited
FormerlyCtrip.com International, Ltd.
Company typePublic
IndustryTravel agency
FoundedJune 1999 (1999-06)
Headquarters
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
RevenueIncrease US$6.3 billion (2023)[1]
Increase US$1.4 billion (2023)
Total assetsDecrease US$30.865 billion (2023)
Number of employees
36,000
Subsidiaries
Websitegroup.trip.com
Footnotes / references
[2]
Trip.com Group
Simplified Chinese携程集团
Traditional Chinese攜程集團
Literal meaningcarry journey group
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinXiéchéng Jítuán
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationKwàihchìhng Jaahptyùhn

Trip.com Group Limited is a multinational travel agency headquartered in Shanghai, China. It is the largest online travel service provider in the world.[3]

Founded in 1999, the company owns and operates several travel fare aggregators and travel fare metasearch engines, including namesake and flagship Trip.com, Skyscanner, Ctrip, Qunar, Travix, and MakeMyTrip.[2] It operates websites in approximately 40 languages and 200 countries.[2] The company is ranked 820th on the Forbes Global 2000.[4]

History

The company was founded as Ctrip.com by James Liang, Neil Shen, Min Fan, and Qi Ji in June 1999.[5]

The company was listed on the NASDAQ in 2003 through a variable interest entity (VIE) based in the Cayman Islands in a Merrill Lynch-led offering, raising US$75 million from the sale of 4.2 million American depositary receipts at $18 each. It appreciated 86% to close at $33.94 per ADR in its first day of trading. The stock traded at a peak of $37.35 on its first day of trading, making it the first company since the November 2000 IPO of Transmeta to double its price in the first day of trading.[5]

On August 6, 2014, Priceline.com, announced that it will invest $500 million in the company to broaden the companies’ options in China, and the companies, which had a commercial partnership since 2012, increased their cross-promotion of each company's hotel inventory and other travel services.[6][7] The investment was increased by $250 million in May 2015.[8]

In November 2016, the company acquired Skyscanner for £1.4 billion.[9][10] That same month, Jane Sun became the CEO of Ctrip which she had joined in 2005.[11]

On November 1, 2017, Ctrip acquired Trip.com, rebranding it as its global brand website.[12][13] By 2018, Trip.com Group derived only around 2% of its revenue from overseas customers, and it announced plans to increase that share to roughly 20% within five years, using the Trip.com brand as the spearhead for international expansion.[14] The strategy focused on growing in Asian markets such as South Korea and Japan, as well as in Western destinations like London, to better compete with global rivals like Expedia.[14] Following the Trip.com relaunch, the platform was made available in multiple languages and had over six million users by mid-2018, with booking transactions doubling year-on-year.[14]

In February 2018, Ctrip launched TrainPal, an online ticketing platform[15] featuring split ticketing,[16] in the United Kingdom.[17] Accredited by the National Rail of the UK,[18] TrainPal mainly provides services for the UK, and other European countries.[19]

In September 2019, Ctrip completed a share exchange with Naspers and became the single largest shareholder of MakeMyTrip.[20] As a result of the transaction, Ctrip acquired 49 percent of MakeMyTrip’s voting power and began accounting for the company using the equity method.[21]

On October 25, 2019, shareholders approved the company's proposal to change its name from "Ctrip.com International, Ltd." to "Trip.com Group Limited." The company stated that the new name was intended to reflect its portfolio of travel brands—including Ctrip, Trip.com, Qunar, and Skyscanner—and to enhance recognition among international users.[21] At the time of the rebranding, international business accounted for approximately 35 percent of the company’s total revenue. The company projected that this figure could rise to between 40 and 50 percent over the following three to five years.[22]

On April 19, 2021, Trip.com Group was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.[23]

On August 16, 2024, Ctrip Asia Live Broadcast Center was unveiled in Thailand.[24]

Remote work

The company is a proponent of scientific management.[25] After a 2012 randomized control trial using 242 employees and sponsored by professors at Stanford University and Peking University found that employees randomly assigned to remote work for 9 months increased their output by 13.5% versus the office-based control group, and their turnover rates fell by almost 50%, the company allowed remote work company-wide.[26]

In 2021, Trip.com Group conducted another large-scale work-from-home experiment, this time comparing a hybrid schedule to full in-office work. Approximately 1,600 China-based employees were randomly assigned either to work in the office five days a week or to work on-site only three days per week (with remote work on other days) for a six-month trial.[27] The experiment found no significant differences in employee productivity or promotions between the two groups, and the hybrid-work group actually showed a slight productivity increase along with about 35% lower attrition compared to the office-only group.[27] After two years of follow-up, company management – initially skeptical – became supportive of implementing hybrid work permanently, citing improved employee satisfaction and substantial savings from the reduced staff turnover.[27]

References

  1. ^ "Trip.com Group Limited Reports Unaudited Fourth Quarter and Full Year of 2023 Financial Results". 2024-08-27.
  2. ^ a b c "Trip.com Group Limited 2023 Form 20-F Annual Report". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. April 29, 2024.
  3. ^ "Where The Big Four Online Travel Agencies — Expedia, TripAdvisor, Ctrip, & Priceline — Are Placing Their Bets". CB Insights Research. November 9, 2017.
  4. ^ "Trip.com Group - Company Overview & News". Forbes.
  5. ^ a b Beltran, Luisa (December 9, 2003). "Ctrip.com IPO soars in first day". MarketWatch.
  6. ^ Surane, Jennifer; Cao, Jing (August 6, 2014). "Priceline Investing $500 Million in Ctrip Travel Agency". Bloomberg News.
  7. ^ Gu, Wei (August 7, 2014). "Priceline to Invest $500 Million in Ctrip". The Wall Street Journal.
  8. ^ Ajmera, Ankit (26 May 2015). "Priceline to invest additional $250 million in China's Ctrip.com". Reuters.
  9. ^ "Ctrip Announces Agreement to Acquire Skyscanner" (Press release). Skyscanner. November 23, 2016.
  10. ^ Russell, Jon (23 November 2016). "China's Ctrip is buying flight search company SkyScanner for $1.74 billion". TechCrunch.
  11. ^ "Jane Jie Sun". Forbes.
  12. ^ O'Neill, Sean (19 November 2017). "Ctrip Relaunches Trip.com as Its English Language Travel Agency Brand". Skift.
  13. ^ Tan, Kenneth (May 5, 2018). "Ctrip launches new global brand Trip.com, removes all references to the site being China-owned". Gothamist.
  14. ^ a b c Deng, Iris (23 July 2018). "China travel giant Ctrip wants to book a bigger seat in international markets with Trip.com brand". South China Morning Post. Retrieved July 24, 2025.
  15. ^ "Trade war puts Chinese tourists off US". Bangkok Post. May 13, 2019.
  16. ^ "Cheap train tickets: how to save money on rail fares with split ticketing and other tips". Inews.co.uk. July 3, 2019.
  17. ^ "Split-city ticketing: the trick that can make your train travel cheaper". Rail Professional. November 28, 2019.
  18. ^ "Payment Methods Report 2019 - European Payments Council" (PDF). European Payments Council. 28 June 2019.
  19. ^ Deng, Iris (May 15, 2019). "Trade war is putting Chinese tourists off US, with many opting for 'more welcoming' nations". South China Morning Post.
  20. ^ "Completion of Naspers share exchange transaction with Ctrip" (Press release). Naspers. September 5, 2019.
  21. ^ a b Schaal, Dennis (October 25, 2019). "Ctrip Name Change to Trip.com Group Is Now Official". Skift.
  22. ^ Schaal, Dennis (2019-09-10). "Ctrip Changing Name to Trip.com Group to Emphasize International Business". Skift. Retrieved 2025-07-24.
  23. ^ Yu, Sophie; Murdoch, Scott (April 19, 2021). "Trip.com Group shares gain 4.5% in Hong Kong debut". Reuters.
  24. ^ "Trip.com Group Unveils Asia Live Streaming Centre in Bangkok to Showcase Thailand's Tourism Offerings". Australian Associated Press. Retrieved 2024-10-28.
  25. ^ Garvin, David (January 1, 2012). "Ctrip: Scientifically Managing Travel Services". Harvard Business School.
  26. ^ Bloom, Nicholas; Liang, James; Roberts, John; Ying, Jenny (February 2013). "Does working from home work? Evidence from a Chinese experiment". National Bureau of Economic Research. Working Paper Series. Cambridge, MA. doi:10.3386/w18871.
  27. ^ a b c Bloom, Nicholas; James Liang; Ruobing Han (29 October 2024). "One Company A/B Tested Hybrid Work. Here's What They Found". Harvard Business Review.
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