traces back to the glory days of the tourism B2B distribution system. It is undoubtedly a "hot spot" in the eyes of capital. Not only are major new platforms emerging, but financing information is frequently disclosed, anyone will feel that this is a "hot spot" worthy of investment. However, apart from the excitement, how to improve the supervision and healthy development of the B2B model has become the focus of thinking in the industry.
Nowadays, the tourism market has been in a downturn for more than a year due to the impact of the epidemic. During this period, Huacheng International Travel Group, which has firmly ranked first in the European outbound tourism market, has done a "big thing" during this period and invested in Considerable manpower and funds have been spent to develop a new B2B2C distribution platform - Xianglong EBK, with the aim of using the platform to use a new business model to create a full-link service system that serves the entire industry.
The platform has been officially launched not long ago. So in the eyes of industry players, can the B2B2C distribution platform really bring new vitality to the dormant travel agency market? As an operator, how does Huacheng International Travel Group consider this issue? Recently, Wenlv talked with many industry players.
1. To rebuild the B2B2C distribution platform, what does Huacheng International Travel Group want to do?
Xianglong EBK distribution platform is an important part of Huacheng International Travel Group's transformation into the domestic market. Recalling the original intention of developing this platform system, Luo Junjie, general manager of the distribution platform of Huacheng International Travel Group, said frankly to Wenlv: "From within the group, we were aware of the impact of 'cost reduction and efficiency increase' through technology on the enterprise long before the epidemic. importance. Later, outbound travel was suspended, and Huacheng International Travel Group accelerated its expansion of its core business into the domestic market. Due to the increase in orders from small B customers and the relatively low single-person gross profit of domestic products, this demand became more urgent. Initially, The plan to build this platform is to a large extent in the hope of solving the problem of low product distribution efficiency of Huacheng International Travel Group. "
However, as more and more domestic travel agencies and tour groups are contacted, Huacheng International Travel Group has come into contact with them. The group discovered that such a problem of "cost reduction and efficiency improvement" was not just a dilemma faced by its own company. Under the traditional inefficient offline sales model, every merchant or individual in this distribution chain was in need of a more comprehensive solution. Efficient system tools.
In particular, the epidemic has caused tourism sales channels to become more fragmented. Due to the demand for domestic tourism business, travel agencies have limited room for group formation and ground handling services. Tourists have become accustomed to completing product bookings through mobile terminals. However, for large-scale tourism, Some small and medium-sized travel agencies do not have an online service platform, let alone a mobile one. Posting product pictures on WeChat Moments and expecting customers to call for inquiries and reservations has become the business norm for many small and medium-sized travel agencies in special times.
"This is one of the main reasons why many small and medium-sized travel agencies find it difficult to survive or resume business during the epidemic. As a senior domestic travel operation service provider, Huacheng International Travel Group has served more than 7,000 agents across the country and can meet daily operations. Dimension cannot be separated from the support of technology platforms. Using our own technical team and combining our own practical experience to create a platform system that can truly help travel agencies break through the current difficulties is not a way to show their own value."
Driven by such motivations, at the most difficult time of the epidemic in 2020, Huacheng International Travel Group, which was in a business freeze period, was the first to resume its busy department, which was the R&D department of the Xianglong EBK distribution platform system project. According to Luo Junjie, from the planning to the launch of the project, and from the design and development to the official launch on August 12 this year, more than 100 people participated, and it took more than a year.
Currently, the online platform system has covered almost all processes of travel transactions. Through the Xianlong EBK distribution platform, users can quickly and accurately find the full range of self-operated travel products of Huacheng International Travel Group; register as a Xianlong EBK with one click Distribution agent, generates personal exclusive store posters; can independently complete full-link transactions such as store product selection, pricing, and sales. In terms of products, Xianglong EBK distribution system platform also aggregates advantageous tourism products including Yunnan, Gansu and Qinghai, Xinjiang and surrounding provinces and cities.
In order to break through the many pain points such as product information asymmetry, long transaction paths, and low efficiency that have plagued traditional tourism for many years, and highlight the absolute advantages of Huacheng International Travel Group’s digital technology trading platform, it has taken the lead in Yunnan as early as February this year Lijiang has launched the first domestic destination management company of Huacheng International Travel Group, using Yunnan as a pilot project and combining many years of outbound travel product innovation concepts to create cost-effective, differentiated line products for mid-to-high-end customers to satisfy current tourists. Travel needs. Next, with the rapid evolution of Yunnan DMC Company's destination resources, products and service operation concepts, key destinations will be developed and inherited in the future.
After the Xianglong EBK distribution platform system was launched, it attracted great attention in the industry. It currently adopts the invitation registration model to focus on serving industry customers and individual travel customers. Luo Junjie expressed the hope that the Xianglong EBK distribution platform can become an efficiency improvement tool, allowing industry customers to realize information flow on the platform more efficiently; and for individual travel customers, the platform is more like a distribution tool with empowering attributes. It allows travelers to build their own online stores, customize reasonable product selling prices, independently guide travel guests to place orders and pay online, and realize the expansion of their own rights and interests through "upgrading and fighting monsters". It is worth noting that the platform also supports fission secondary travel consultants, and users can also receive additional points as rewards.
2. Travel agencies are struggling to survive during the epidemic. Is the platform system still popular?
In early August, due to the Delta virus epidemic at Nanjing Lukou Airport, the domestic prevention and control situation became tense again, including Guangzhou, Sichuan, Henan, Yunnan, Fujian and other provinces and cities suspending inter-provincial group travel and air ticket and hotel business. The time when Huacheng International Travel Group chose to launch the new system has also triggered discussions in the industry. For travel agency companies, do they still need a new system to meet business needs?
In this regard, tourism industry observer Xiao Yuanshan told Wenlv that the tourism industry is a relatively traditional industry, and the information asymmetry between various links in the industry chain is very serious. For a considerable number of small and medium-sized tour groups, they are still receiving customers. After consultation, we started looking for a ground contractor to move the bricks. Even under the epidemic, as long as the travel agency industry still exists, the demand for distribution platforms will still exist, but it is also very difficult to succeed in this environment.
"If you want to build an industry B2B distribution platform, in addition to information transparency, you also need to establish a sufficient evaluation mechanism and trust mechanism so that the demand side can quickly connect with the partners it needs. There is no problem with service quality or even fund settlement. No worries. Huacheng International Travel Group is a leading company in the industry. It is a good thing for the leading company to take the lead, so the industry is still cautiously optimistic and looking forward to this new distribution platform. "
and the previous travel distribution platform operators. Differently, Huacheng International Travel Group, as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ctrip, has professional and experienced tourism operation service experience. Combined with Ctrip's Internet thinking, it is supported by technology and driven by talents to build and improve operational capabilities to form a sustainable Competitive advantage builds confidence in the establishment of EBK Xianglong distribution platform.
Another major change is also reflected in the market environment. In the past, the tourism distribution system platform has been repeatedly exposed. On the one hand, it was due to poor supervision at the time. Due to the huge amount of funds deposited in the platform, the use of funds for other purposes was the main reason for the problems of many companies. ; On the other hand, some merchants participating in the platform also have a cheap mentality and swarm them, creating opportunities for platform parties that do not abide by the law. Now, while the epidemic has brought a blow to the tourism industry, it has also left the industry with nowhere to return to rationality. The companies that have survived so far are more mature, and the probability of subsidy chaos again is low. This is also new for Huacheng International Travel Group. Chance.
"The industry needs a distribution platform that can not only solve business functions such as information interaction, trust transfer, and evaluation constraints, but also allow demand parties to more confidently and boldly connect with partners on the platform. It is best to also drive related companies on the entire platform. The digitalization process opens up the data interfaces of all relevant enterprises and uses technology to conduct business interactions without humans. Some small and medium-sized enterprises can directly use the platform as their own digital system for financial accounting and data analysis if the platform provides similar SAAS software. The function can also increase a certain amount of income, instead of just relying on transaction commissions to survive, so as to achieve a win-win-win situation," Xiao Yuanshan said.
Luo Junjie also agreed with this. Providing convenience to partners through technological empowerment is something Huacheng International Travel Group has been doing for a long time in the past. For example, the independently developed ERP system and "Itinerary Assistant" have already been gradually opened up to upstream and downstream channels and customers, and have become effective tools to assist transactions. During the epidemic, the only thing that Huacheng International Travel Group has not been affected by the epidemic and has been operating is the technical team. The launch of the new distribution platform system will also become the entry point for Huacheng International Travel Group to enter the domestic market and continue to support the development of domestic tourism business in the future. important support.
"In special times, Huacheng International Travel Group will focus more on being able to quickly adjust the main product structure if the epidemic occurs again, epidemic prevention and control during travel, rapid response to emergencies, and the implementation of 'product assurance under the epidemic' Regarding the refund policy, we hope that through technology + products, more guests who want to travel will feel more at ease when booking Xianglong domestic travel products, and that users on the platform will have no worries when selling products. "
3, based on the domestic market, looking at the world. Internationally, travel companies need to wait for the opportunity to accumulate opportunities
In July 2020, Huacheng International Travel Group began to fully enter the domestic tourism business. Guo Dongjie, chairman of the group and senior vice president of Ctrip, mentioned in an exclusive interview with Wenlv that the company had officially The corporate vision was changed from the original "to become China's best outbound tourism operation service provider" to "China's leading tourism service company that continues to create high value for customers." The preparations for the transformation have been laid out since then. The epidemic is undoubtedly an accelerator of this process.
For Huacheng International Travel Group, the outbound travel market that has been deeply cultivated for many years will definitely occupy a leading position in the future. The difference is that it has upgraded from focusing on outbound travel to working hand in hand with domestic travel and outbound travel.
When talking about the experience of this transformation, Guo Dongjie also said that domestic tourism is the "touchstone" that truly tests the capabilities of travel agencies, because the problems currently faced by domestic tourism will also be encountered in the outbound tourism market in the future. Especially in the Southeast Asian countries surrounding China, many tourists have visited them more than once or twice, and more and more tourists are willing to travel independently. While overcoming the difficulties in the domestic market, they are also accumulating experience for a more in-depth layout of outbound travel destinations in the future. .
In June this year, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued the "Notice on Strengthening Policy Support to Further Support the Development of Travel Agencies", which is another important policy measure to support the development of travel agencies after the introduction of financial support for travel agencies and other market entities to bail out market entities. The "Notice" shows that the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and local cultural and tourism administrative departments will support travel agencies to actively cope with operating difficulties, effectively reduce operating costs, and promote the comprehensive recovery and high-quality development of travel agencies.
At the industry level, how to survive the difficult times of the epidemic has become the biggest difficulty for travel agencies. Despite the good news from policies, resuming business and selling more products are still top priorities. In a situation where the recovery period of outbound tourism is still unknown and there is no hope of recovery at present, the goal set by Huacheng International Travel Group is to become the first echelon of domestic tourism products.
It can be said that the launch of Xianglong EBK distribution platform marks that Huacheng International Travel Group has taken another big step towards this goal. It has officially entered the "technology-based tourism operation service provider" from a traditional tourism operation service provider. A new stage of development.Not only for ourselves, but also for more small and medium-sized travel agencies and individual travel agents in the industry, it provides a new choice to break the epidemic situation.
Luo Junjie said that under the epidemic, the operating status of most tourism companies is in turmoil, and competition in the domestic tourism market has become increasingly fierce. At this moment, everyone is in urgent need of a new model that breaks the traditional offline inefficient tourism distribution method. Moreover, a large number of tourism employees have lost their jobs during this epidemic, but the source of customers they have is still there, and the travel demand of customers will still be there when the epidemic is stable. At this time, they need a "low threshold, zero cost" online The distribution platform helps them monetize private domain traffic, and some transactions even occur on a part-time basis.
"The epidemic will eventually pass, and the value of Xianglong's EBK distribution platform is not limited to domestic line products. In the future, outbound travel will restart and the market will enter an accelerated recovery period. The more solid the internal skills are cultivated in the early stage, the greater the profits will be in the later stage." Well, helping small and medium-sized travel agencies and operators who are in a more difficult situation to tide over difficult times will also add strength to Huacheng International Travel Group to gain a faster foothold in the domestic market and better resume outbound business.”
