A Study On The Product Operating Strategy Of Online Travel Platform From Company T To Reduce Consumers’ Risk Perception During The Pandemic

The tourism industry is sensitive to changes in the natural or socioeconomic environment,whether it be natural disasters,man-made disasters,or plagues,all of which can have a significant impact on traveler’s decisions.The Covid-19 pandemic that swept through the world has caused tremendous damage to the global tourism industry to an unprecedented extent.As the largest online travel agency(OTA)in China,Company T’s travel business operations are also under huge pressure.With travel consumers facing both their own health risks from the pandemic and the risks of disruptions to their travel plans due to unpredictable escalation of pandemic control measures,demand for travel continues to be under pressure,and there is a strong need for Company T to find new product operating strategies to restore growth in its OTA business.The prolonged spread of the pandemic has caused OTA business operations of Company T to face the problems of insufficient traffic,pressure on order volume and high costs due to the perception of travel risks in the long term.By going through and applying the theoretical framework of risk perception theory and planned behaviour theory,this study finds that travel consumers’ perceptions of financial/time loss risk,service quality risk and health risk are all higher than those before the Pandemic,and that the travel risk perceptions of the main customer group of Company T are also higher than the general market average.This study therefore proposes a series of product operating strategies designed for the OTA business unit of Company T from the perspective of reducing the perception of travel risk,to help restore the travel business revenue to normal levels as soon as possible.