HopeGoo, a subsidiary of Tongcheng Travel (00780), officially connects to the Octopus Port Area and visitors can book high-speed rail tickets in mainland China

The Zhitong Finance App learned that while the OTA platform is making great efforts in international business, HopeGoo, an international travel platform owned by Tongcheng Travel (00780), has recently officially connected to the Hong Kong Octopus App. This move will more easily meet the needs of overseas, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan tourists to book train tickets north.

Since this year, both the convenient endorsement policy in Hong Kong and Macau and the 240-hour visa-free transit policy have stimulated the tourism industry in China and overseas markets. According to Tongcheng Travel's financial data for the third quarter of 2024, the average daily volume of international air tickets reached a new high, with a year-on-year increase of more than 160%, and the number of nighttime international hotels increased nearly 140% year-on-year. Since WeChathK and AlipayHK back-office opened to HopeGoo, there have been more than one million HopeGoo service users.

According to data from Tongcheng Research Institute, from October to December 2024, air ticket bookings from Hong Kong to the mainland increased by 68.3%, 37% and 17.5% year on year; while air ticket bookings from the mainland to Hong Kong also increased by 53.7%, 29% and 6.7% year on year, showing a good trend in travel exchanges between the two places. According to the analysis of Tongcheng Research Institute, there are two main reasons for the lack of tourist exchanges between the two places in December: first, the Hong Kong region has Christmas in December and is close to the traditional Chinese Spring Festival. Both holidays are legal holidays in Hong Kong, which causes tourists to choose farther countries and regions for their travel purposes; second, mainland tourists will place their travel plans at the New Year's Eve point on New Year's Day, so the lack of significant increase in the frequency of tourist exchanges between the two sides in December is a reasonable state in the industry.

Currently, WeChat HK and Alipay HK mini-programs have been connected to HopeGoo. Visitors from Hong Kong can purchase high-speed rail tickets, hotel and scenic spot tickets on these two platforms. This time, the Octopus app will focus on providing train ticket reservation services for Hong Kong residents when they go north. Through the Octopus app, users can directly book train tickets to mainland China by switching to HopeGoo with one click, and enjoy a convenient one-stop travel booking experience. In addition, HopeGoo will also support payments in 16 global currencies and provide language operations in English and traditional Chinese to meet the needs of users in different countries. With the in-depth cooperation with Octopus, in the future, HopeGoo will also extend its coverage from air tickets, hotels, train tickets, to reservations for six major scenarios, including tickets to destination attractions and ferry tickets.

In Hong Kong, Octopus currently issues more than 20 million cards, and its penetration rate in Hong Kong has reached 98%. Usage scenarios include local public transportation, large chain stores, convenience stores, fast food restaurants, supermarkets, etc., new vending machines, pay phone booths, and self-service cameras. In addition, most Hong Kong tertiary institutions' libraries and some self-service copiers can also use Octopus payments.

In order to meet the growing travel needs of Hong Kong tourists, HopeGoo officially launched the “Snake King Departs Lunar New Year Festival” promotion campaign to welcome the Lunar New Year on the occasion of the traditional Chinese Spring Festival. During the event, HopeGoo will distribute generous travel benefits of up to 10 million HKD to users and add train coupons of up to HK$699 for Octopus users. This move aims to attract more users' attention and use of the HopeGoo platform.

HopeGoo CEO Shen Wenjing said that HopeGoo's official entry into the Octopus App and the launch of its Lunar New Year promotion campaign showed the importance and investment of Tongcheng Travel in the Hong Kong market. Looking ahead, HopeGoo said it will continue to work with more local partners to continuously enrich and optimize its travel product reservation services. The platform will continue to launch cost-effective and diverse local and popular destination entertainment products to meet the growing travel needs of Hong Kong visitors. Through this strategy, HopeGoo hopes to further strengthen its position in the Hong Kong travel booking market and provide users with a more comprehensive and convenient one-stop travel booking service.