Booking Holdings gets big return on Meituan investment
Booking Holdings' equity investment in Meituan Dianping has generated a return of more than USD 1 billion. In 2017, the company invested USD 450 million in preferred shares of the leading e-commerce platform for local services in China. The investment had fair values of USD 1.8 billion as of June 30, 2020.
Trip.com Group, AirAsia join forces to boost travel in China, Southeast Asia
Trip.com Group formed a strategic partnership with AirAsia's travel and lifestyle online platform on a range of cooperation including transit information for connecting flights, membership benefits and product marketing.
Generation Z consumers present new growth engine for travel brands
China’s next-generation travel consumers have solid purchasing power but they remain rational in their spending, according to the Generation Z Travel Consumer Trends Report by TravelDaily, parent of ChinaTravelNews.com. Some 10% of them make travel reservations on e-commerce platform Taobao, video-sharing app TikTok and lifestyle sharing platform Xiaohongshu.
Alibaba Fliggy partners with Ascenda to enhance loyalty rewards
Alibaba has worked with loyalty management company Ascenda to enhance the value of Fliggy's membership program. Fliggy miles can be converted into miles of three airlines from various airline alliances, which marks Fliggy members' connection with members of Star Alliance, SkyTeam and Oneworld.
Hilton hotels' occupancy exceeds 60% in China
Hilton CEO Christopher J. Nassetta said the hotel chain lost USD 432 million in the second quarter this year. Performance in Asia Pacific is largely driven by rebounds in both leisure and business transient travel in China, where occupancy is more than 60%. As of July 31, 96% of Hilton's system-wide hotels were open.
Jin Jiang remains Accor's biggest shareholder with 13% stake
French hotel giant Accor is launching a 200 million euro cost-saving plan that will see it cut 1,000 roles, while it is also considering selling the iconic Paris headquarters it purchased in 2016 for 363 million euro. Accor posted revenues of 917 million euro for the first half of 2020, down 52.4% from last year. As of June 30, China's Jin Jiang hotel group is Accor’s leading shareholder with 13.0% of the share capital corresponding to 17.0% of voting rights. Huazhu Group holds 2.9% of Accor’s share capital and 2.2% of voting rights.
Greater China continues to lead Hyatt Hotels' recovery
Hyatt Hotels Corporation posted a steep 80% decline in total revenue to USD 250 million in the second quarter this year. Net income (loss) decreased 376.0% to a net loss of USD 236 million. The company's RevPAR in Greater China has shown continued improvement since May, with preliminary estimates indicating occupancy reaching 57% at the end of July. Greater China, where the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic were first reported, continues to lead the recovery.
Disney reports 85% revenue decline in Parks, Experiences
The Walt Disney Company reported a 42% drop in revenue for the quarter ended June 27, 2020. The most significant adverse impact of USD 3.5 billion was at the Parks, Experiences and Products segment as most of Disney's theme parks and resorts were closed for the entire quarter. Revenues for this segment posted a 85% drop to USD 983 million. Asia parks and resorts were closed for a portion of the current quarter, as Shanghai Disney Resort re-opened in May and Hong Kong Disneyland Resort re-opened in late June (Hong Kong Disneyland Resort closed again in July).
Fosun Tourism rebrands Thomas Cook as a lifestyle online platform
Fosun Tourism Group, the leisure travel unit of Chinese conglomerate Fosun International, announced that it has re-launched the Thomas Cook brand as a lifestyle online platform globally. The iconic homas Cook brand went into liquidation in September 2019, and Fosun Tourism subsequently acquired its intellectual property rights for £11 million. The acquisition and integration of Thomas Cook’s brand assets converge with Fosun Tourism’s strategy of integrating industry operations with strategic investments.
US Secretary of State asks citizens to exercise increased caution traveling in China.
US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo continues with its warnings against China, this time asking the US citizens to exercise increased caution with respect to travel in or to China. Pompeo also said the Trump administration wants to remove untrusted Chinese apps from US app stores operated by Apple and Google. Apparently that includes TikTok.
Washington rejects request for Chinese airlines to run more flights
The United States has turned down a request by China-based airlines to increase the number of flights between the two countries on the grounds that Beijing refuses to allow American flights to the capital, Caixin has learned. Washington wanted Beijing to drop its restrictions on international flights to the country once and for all, but the Chinese side was reluctant to comply.
China adds flights from Japan and South Korea as travel curbs ease
China allowed more scheduled passenger flights from Japan and South Korea as the Asian countries gradually ease coronavirus travel curbs. But finding affordable tickets is still difficult for many travelers as average prices are up nearly tenfold amid high demand. There will be 15 passenger flights between China and Japan every week in August, up from 12 a week last month, according to the Japanese embassy in China and airline companies. Weekly flights between China and South Korea are also increasing to 15 in August from nine in July.
