Booking’s general manager for France looks back on the new travel habits observed since the start of the pandemic, the group’s digital projects and the future of tourism.
JDN. What are Booking’s results in 2021 compared to the previous year?
Malena Gufflet. Booking activity was better in 2021 than in 2020. We are happy to see a steady improvement. The third quarter of 2021 was very strong, especially in Europe. Third-quarter revenue, which is the highest each year, was $ 4.7 billion in 2021. This is double that of the second quarter. Overnight reservations increased by 44% compared to the same period in 2020. This confirms a strong recovery at the end of the year, made possible by the security and legislative environment.
What travel and booking habits have you noticed this year and how Booking is supporting these new trends?
Overall, in France and globally, travel remains mostly domestic. Booking behavior is changing because two-thirds of overnight stays were booked from mobile devices in the third quarter of 2021 and the majority of them are booked via the mobile application. For the first time, we even surpassed the 100 million monthly active user mark on the app. Mobile will continue to take up space and we will continue our efforts to provide the best possible experience. We also note a need for flexibility in terms of cancellations and reimbursements which we will continue to respond to by supporting our partner establishments. In 2022, travel in the service of well-being is one of the major trends that we have a presentiment of.
“In 2022, travel in the service of well-being is one of the major trends that we have a presentiment of”
What projects have you carried out in 2021 in association with your partner establishments?
At Booking, we took advantage of the different periods of confinement between 2020 and 2021 and the slowdown in tourism to reflect on the responsibility of our company. This year, we implemented two initiatives. The first was to make all our partners aware of our Travel Proud project. The goal is to defend the LGBT cause and offer this community a more inclusive experience in establishments booked via Booking.com. These establishments have a badge visible on our site.
The second initiative concerns our Sustainable Travel Establishment badge intended to promote establishments that lead sustainable and responsible initiatives. We have selected 32, divided into five themes: waste management, energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, water management, support for local communities and nature protection. We are committed to promoting sustainable development by supporting our partner establishments.
You took up your duties in February 2020, a few weeks before the first confinement. What are the digital projects that have occupied you since this period?
Our ambition is to offer the best possible experience during research but also from a technological point of view, through a fully multiservice offer. Accommodation remains Booking’s historic core business. For this reason, we want to build on this know-how by consolidating it and strengthening our leadership in the alternative accommodation segment such as chalets or private houses. But we must also support all aspects of transport, attractions, catering by linking all of this multiservice dimension to payment in order to offer the best tailor-made trip.
In 2020 and 2021, we have carried out major projects in this direction, such as the partnership with TUI and its subsidiary Musement in June 2020. Since then, we are gradually integrating 70,000 attractions and activities around the world which will soon be bookable via Booking.com. This year, thanks to the Viator subsidiary of Tripadvisor, we are adding 400,000 tours and activities around the world. Finally, this fall we acquired Etraveli Group, which is a global supplier of flight reservations, in order to complete our flight offer.
Before the crisis, France was the world’s leading tourist destination. The Paris Olympics are fast approaching. What can Booking’s role be in this international meeting?
Until 2019, France welcomed 90 million international tourists each year. Our wish is to reposition France in its first place by enhancing its geographic and accommodation diversity. Indeed, we are starting to think about Paris 2024 and are in the process of welcoming all tourists, even before the Olympic Games. From 2022, we hope that tourists from other continents who were not very present this year, will go to France. Our role is to attract and stimulate demand in France and around the world through our marketing campaigns.
So you seem optimistic for the coming year
It is true that we remain very optimistic about the current situation despite the spread of the Omicron variant. But we remain optimistic because the year 2021 has gone better than the year 2020 and if we observe the curve since March 2020, it is rising, slowly but surely. Compared to the 2019 reference year, we do not have any growth prospects for 2022. We rather imagine a return to normal at the end of 2023, or even for the Olympic Games in Paris. Until then, we hope that tourism will continue to do better thanks to vaccination.
A graduate of the Leonardo da Vinci School of Management and the University of Coventry in England, Malena Gufflet began her career at Les Collectionneurs, before joining the AccorHotels group, for nearly ten years. She then became Sales Director of La Maison Options, before joining Booking.com in February 2020.