During El Salvador president Nayib Bukele’s recent visit to China, Trip.com Group CMO Sun Bo was invited to attend President Nayib Bukele’s entrepreneurs symposium in Shanghai.
During the meeting, Mr. Sun gave a presentation on the opportunities for cooperation and development in the tourism sector between China and El Salvador to the president and provided advice on several topics including initiating non-stop flights between the two countries, simplifying the visa process and creating a world-class surfing destination.
Born in San Salvador in 1981, Nayib Bukele is a renowned businessman and politician who became El Salvador’s new president in June 2019. He noted that alongside China’s rise on the world stage, Chinese tourists have also become an increasingly important demographic. With the establishment and improvement of diplomatic relations between the two nations, El Salvador has opened its doors to Chinese tourists, and will strive to provide more convenient means of travel to and from El Salvador within the near future.
At the symposium, Mr. Sun spoke with President Bukele about the current status and course of development of Trip.com Group. “Trip.com Group is Asia’s largest as well as a world-leading online travel agency, connecting tens of millions of Chinese tourists with the world every year. In the future, we hope to cooperate with El Salvadorto make the visa application process more convenient, initiate non-stop charter flights and launch destination marketing campaigns, in order to promote the development of tourism in both countries.” Mr. Sun’s speech received high praise from President Bukele and was well-received by the audience.
El Salvador, one of the birthplaces of ancient Mayan culture, is home to several of world’s most well-known volcanoes, the attractive and expansive central plateau, various lake landscapes, a beautiful and long coastline as well as stunning beaches. In addition to rich cultural and natural tourism resources, El Salvador is also an ideal destination for surfing, having garnered much popularity among enthusiasts.
El Salvadorian Minister of Tourism Morena Ileana Valdez Vigil noted that China and El Salvador were embarking on an entirely new beginning and with limitless opportunities for exchanges across the board, since last year’s establishment of diplomatic relations. “We hope that our collaboration with Trip.comm will help us to convey the appeal of El Salvador’s tourism sector to more Chinese travelers and have them choose our country as a holiday destination,” said the Minister.
Mr. Sun echoed this sentiment, adding that the Group hopes to explore additional collaborative possibilities withEl Salvador as part of the strategic partnership, and is looking forward to enhancing the experience that tourists can enjoy when visiting the country via the strategic cooperation. “Trip.com would like to work together to upgrade the quality of the tourism sector in El Salvador through digital avenues, and to transform El Salvador into an idyllic tourism paradise in the eyes of the world’s travelers,” said Sun.
In recent years, Trip.com has further accelerated its process of international expansion and has continued to broaden its cooperation with Chile, the Dominican Republic and other Latin American countries in a move to enhance its status as a global integrated tourism service provider. The meeting with the El Salvadorian government officials further cements the success of the Group’s market expansion in the Caribbean and Latin America.
Although thousands of miles away, Chinese tourists traveling to Latin America can expect their experience and safety to continue to be vastly enhanced by Trip.com’s participation in the improvement of Latin America’sinbound tourism infrastructure. As Sun explained during his presentation, Trip.com has 13 call centers and more than 10,000 customer service personnel located across the globe, and the Trip.com SOS platform can provide comprehensive protection for tourists when faced with disaster, whether it be a volcanic eruption, an earthquake, a typhoon and any other kind of emergency situation. Trip.com’s ticket, hotel, vacation and other divisions also continue to work together 24/7, to provide uninterrupted services to tourists in both China and abroad.
