Fliggy Agency (Ex Alitrip)

We help Tourism players, Tour operators, and hospitality companies to enter Fliggy and develop their Business on Fliggy (ex Alitrip). Chinese Hotels, Travel Agencies, or Airlines all have heard of Fliggy, formerly Alitrip may want to take note of it as soon as possible. Fliggy is an online travel agent platform owned by Alibaba, a leading provider of accommodation reservations, transportation ticketing, package tours, corporate travel management, and other travel-related services in China.

What is Fliggy (Ex Alitrip) ?

Fliggy is an online travel agent platform owned by Alibaba

“Fliggy is not an OTA instead it is a marketplace. It provides traffic and e-commerce solutions for the brands which sell on its platform”. 

Frank Huang (Vice President of Fliggy)

Fliggy is Alibaba’s travel branch’s latest innovation that can proud itself with a very large user base made up of more than 550 million active monthly users due to its success it has inevitably drawn international brands like Lufthansa, Marriott, and American Airlines. Fliggy attracts global business deals because of the brand’s innovations, excellent use of its user’s data, its efficient algorithms, and loyalty program. At present Fliggy does not have an English website, only a Chinese website exists: https://www.fliggy.com/

The online travel platform (OTP), which acts as an online shopping mall for brands and is part of China’s Alibaba ecosystem, is already showing impressive numbers. The travel brand came into being about two and a half years ago. By the end of last year, Fliggy had about :

• 550 million users,
• 100 million downloads of its application
• Annual turnover of 100 stores worth nearly $ 15 million.

Then there are the really enticing figures about Fliggy, with such figures, this app is a great tool for the Chinese outbound tourism market. One might think that most tourism and hospitality brands have an idea of what Fliggy is. However, most of the Travel players never heard of Fliggy. Wells Zheng, vice president of international airline tickets at Fliggy, provided the necessary information at the recent Amadeus Airline Executive Summit in Dublin.

He says OTP is different from online travel agencies and meta-search sites in that it “is a direct connection between the airline and its customer”. He adds that if Fliggy tries to “eliminate information asymmetry,” OTAs “lie between brands and their customers”. Zheng also said that the main product of the OTP – its flagship store – allows brands to operate their own store but provides them with marketing and data analysis support. 

Alibaba, fail with its travel platform Alitrip in late 2014. Back then, Alibaba Group wanted to create a Great platform for China tourism industry, but most travel start-ups in China were first running into the giant Ctrip (in its subsidiary Qunar/elong). The question is, can Fliggy change the game with its online marketplace concept and numerous collaboration with airlines and hotel chains. Well, the latest figures seem to be showing growth; so there is that.

Fliggy.com is not only a comparison software but instead what makes Fliggy unique from other OTAs is that it provides airlines and other sellers registered on the platform with data and insights about Chinese travelers, engagement rates, user’s interests, age, gender; all useful info that can be used by sellers to market more effectively and attract potential consumers. Any company, independently of their industry as well as an international airline, to a small business, can register on Fliggy and promote its services and products to more than 550 million members.

Before finding its current name, Fliggy went through quite a bit of identity crisis, indeed previously known as “The Taobao Travel model” it was then changed to “Alitrip” (2014), and once more to Fliggy (2016). Along with the name changes also came a change in logo, the current logo represents a happy-looking pig mascot. Fliggy in Chinese: Feizhu stands for “flying pig”.

Who uses Fliggy ?

• China independent travelers: A type of traveler has been emerging in China over recent years. These FITs, or free independent travelers as they are called, typically have a higher level of education and income than group tourists. They also tend to be under 50-years old with spouses and children back home which gives them even more incentive to explore cultures outside their own through extensive travel research before embarking on an adventure abroad. In general, these individuals want flexible options when it comes to traveling so they can control all aspects of what happens during their trip according to personal interests instead of having preset schedules determined by others. Learn more here
• Chinese Outbound Travelers looking for interesting travel offers: Chinese consumers (and travelers) always love a good deal. It is not uncommon for someone to look up prices on several OTA before considering a purchase. Fliggy has the advantage to have partnerships with several airlines all over the world, making it a competitive service in terms of pricing.

What can users do on Fliggy ?

Fliggy provides similar services to Ctrip/Trip :

1. Book plane tickets
2. Hotel booking services
3. Tour guide services
4. Visa application services
5. Travel packages

Why integrate your hotel/travel destination on Fliggy ?

While Fliggy plays a major role in enriching chinese traveller’s experience, it also creates opportunities for hotel and airline suppliers hoping to enter into the chinese OTA market. Payments from merchants and suppliers through the Fliggy platform used to incur high transaction costs and very often additional charges. Fliggy’s partnership with WorldFirst means that transactions made through Fliggy’s platform are now a lot more profitable for international merchants.

Requirements, documents and steps to register a tourism company on Fliggy

Enrollment requirements for fliggy

Merchants and providers who wish to enroll on Fliggy’s international platform need to meet at least the following criterias :

• Own a legally registered corporate entity overseas
• Meet qualification requirements of their country of registration for the supply of the relevant services
• Have the capacity to provide services to Chinese tourists

Qualification certificates for fliggy

Before enrolling on Fliggy International Platform, merchants/ providers will have to submit the following qualification certificates to prove they abide by relevant laws and regulations in their own country of registration, have the capacity to provide services to Chinese tourists, and meet the qualification requirements of Fliggy. However, it is important to note that submitting all required documents does not guarantee a successful enrollment.

• Business License
• Business registration certificate
• A local, valid, and legal proof of identity for the company’s authorized representative or director (preferably passport)
• A local, valid, and legal proof of identity for the company’s shop owner (preferably passport)
• The company’s board of directors’ resolution for appointment of the shop owner
• The company’s bank account license or bank statements from the account used to send and receive funds for business transactions
• The company’s applicable license to supply the relevant services in the jurisdiction of the company
• For companies who enroll for the category of air tickets, valid IATA air ticket agent certificate
• Completed shop information table filled out in accordance to the questionnaire template provided by Fliggy
• Other certificates or information as required by Fliggy from time to time, based on the present conditions

Fliggy Requirements for goods and services

After enrollment, goods and services advertised on Fliggy platform should at a minimum, meet the following criteria :

• Description of goods and services shall be in Chinese. Units shall be of international metric standard
• The price shall be tagged in RMB/ Yen. Wangwang customer service in Chinese shall be provided.
• Regulations for merchants’ goods and services of particular categories shall be followed.

Chinese OTA (Online Travel Agency) market

The OTA market in China was valued at USD45 billion (2018), second only behind the United States valued at USD77 billion( 2018) but in terms of growth China increase was 27% which was more than four times that of the U.S. While a few giants are leaders in the Chinese tourism industry, contrary to some other countries there is no clearly defined leader. Without a doubt, Ctrip is the main leader in the Chinese OTA market, but as mentioned earlier competition is very intense as there is no shortage of competitors fighting to get their share of the market.

1. Ctrip: Ctrip is China’s key player when it comes to the Chinese Online Travel Agency (OTA) market, however the market has a lot of competitors trying to get their share of the market. In order to expand its market and reaffirm its leading position, Ctrip decided to acquire Qunar & eLong. In 2018, the Chinese OTA market was made up of a large variety of companies, varying in scale too, as not all of them were big companies. An interesting fact to know is that Ctrip’s competitors were not only companies from the hospitality sectors, indeed some of the most notable were from e-commerce giant: Alibaba.
2. TuNiu: In Chinese: 途牛旅游网. Tuniu is a Chinese online travel agency that sells products and services including packaged tours, accommodation booking, airline, and railway ticketing, car rentals, and corporate travel. 
3. Mafengwo: The platform is available both as a webpage and an app. Users can go through the latest travel information, glance at Q&As and reviews, as well as book hotels, travel destinations, and local tours.
4. Meituan Travel: Formerly known as Meituan-Dianping, is a Chinese shopping platform for products and retail services including entertainment, dining, delivery, travel, and other services. The company operates different apps and websites for different services, the Meituan site offers deals of the day by selling vouchers on local services and entertainment.
5. Qunar: is a Chinese online travel agency, Qunar was launched in May 2005 as China’s first travel search engine.

What are China’s biggest OTAs ?

As mentioned previously, Ctrip dominates China’s OTA market, this leadership has been especially important after acquiring its main two competitors (2015) :

• Qunar
• eLong

Ctrip also operates a Scotland-based comparison site that is Skyscanner. While Ctrip remains the biggest player in the market, constant and intense competition is building increasing pressure. Meanwhile, U.S-based Expedia and Booking.com have increased their efforts in order to increase their popularity in China, with the latter investing in a huge branding push. As for Meituan, the company continues to try to convert its food and retail delivery customers into hotel bookers.

Why should your tourism business be registered on Chinese OTA?

The rise of independent travelers

Tour buses filled with Chinese travelers are still very popular around the world but in the past years there has been a significant increase in independent Chinese travelers, but in more and more destinations, Chinese consumers are more often choosing to travel on their own and planning trips by themselves this is a sign that some segments of the outbound Chinese market are slowly maturing because Chinese travelers especially younger generations are looking for an original way of traveling and want to see more than the traditional tourism itinerary practiced by their predecessors.

Also read: How to attract chinese outbound tourists

More than just booking apps : reviews apps/travel notes

But it is important to keep in mind that booking apps are not the only factors when chinese tourists want to inform themselves about their travel plan, tourism businesses need to remember that chinese travelers give a lot of attention to reviews written by previous customers, and to them having a good reputation and being acknowledged by fellow travelers is paramount to the chinese traveler community.

Collaborate with tourism KOLs on Chinese OTA

Just like the above, to Chinese consumers having a good reputation and reviews is very important so using KOLs to promote your tourism/hospitality business is an excellent marketing strategy that will help you build your brand image and increase the reputation of your brand and more importantly it will help you gain and build trust from potential Chinese consumers.

We are a Fliggy agency

We help Tourism Companies, Tour operator and hospitality players to maximize their Business on Fliggy.

E-REPUTATION: Primordial before launching, we work together on your unique selling point, then on the social networks and with the help of PR, we make sure that your image on the networks is totally clean and reliable for the Chinese users.

SEO: The optimization of your referencing will be essential, our team of specialists will take care of your e-reputation, the management of your social networks while setting up an SEO / SEM campaign allowing you to gain places in the ranking of the Baidu Chinese search engine.

LEAD GENERATION: Our teams are professionals in lead generation. To optimize it, your e-reputation must be irreproachable. Investing in online advertising and creating quality content will help you develop your e-reputation. Finally, the evaluation of the results will be important to guide us in the next stages of your development.

DIGITAL SOLUTIONS: Website creation, development, and audit; social media marketing (including WeChat & Weibo); PR; monthly reports and analyzes by our team of experts.

Contact us to register your company on Fliggy

If you need a Fliggy Agency (contact us we can help you )

SEO agency China has years of expertise in the field, contact us to get a free consultation do discuss your goals in China with us.

1. We are a Cost-effective Agency 
2. We are Focus on Performance 
3. We have Great Experience in Travel