Golden Financial: Speeding up the AI transformation of tourism, re-evaluating OTA's core competitiveness.

Zhongjin released a research report stating that recently, global OTA platform stocks have been under pressure, mainly due to market concerns about Google's (GOOGL.US) recent launch of AI new features, providing users with "personalized travel butler" services. AI may directly connect with the supply chain, thus challenging the position of OTA. The firm believes that the main customer acquisition channels of OTAs may change, and it is also necessary to observe the cooperation progress between various OTA platforms and AI companies, as well as whether they can successfully transform in the midst of change. Chinese tourism places higher demands on supply chain capabilities and fulfillment guarantees, and the impact of AI is relatively lagging. Of course, this year OTA and GenAI are strengthening cooperation and exploration, with the results worth looking forward to. Zhongjin's main points are as follows: Google is integrating its various AI search functions into a unified workflow. Users no longer need to plan their trips through traditional keyword searches + clicking on links, but can have AI Agent handle search, browse, and booking tasks directly through conversation. In addition, Google has introduced the "personal intelligence" feature to users in the United States who have AI Pro and AI Ultra paid subscriptions, which can read flight/hotel reservation information from users' Gmail, travel photos from Google Photos, etc., without the need to input preferences repeatedly, directly generating customized product and service recommendations. The market began to worry about GenAI replacing OTA at the end of last year. In November 2025, Google announced the addition of the Canvas tool for organizing travel plans in AI mode. Canvas is defined as an "AI-driven collaboration space" that can access real-time data of flights and hotels, combine with Google Maps data, and generate a complete visual itinerary. In addition, Google has expanded its FlightDeals service to more than 200 countries and regions. From a supplier perspective, Google has deep cooperation with hotel giants such as Marriott, InterContinental, and Wyndham. The firm believes that the supply chain and fulfillment value of OTA is high and difficult to replace in the short term. 1) There are difficulties in integrating the supply chain, and large chain hotels are relatively easy to connect with, but there are still many non-standard, individual hotels in the market, which may take a long time to access with AI. 2) Travel is a high-value and relatively non-standard product, involving comparatively heavy fulfillment services. Currently, there are still many specific, sudden, non-standard scenarios that require manual processing. The firm believes that the main customer acquisition channels of OTA may change and it is also necessary to observe the cooperation progress between various OTA platforms and AI companies, as well as whether they can successfully transform in the midst of change. Implications for domestic OTA: Comprehensive platforms compete for AI traffic entry points, while vertical platforms actively embrace it. In early 2026, Alibaba announced that Qianwen will fully integrate into Taobao, Amap, and Fliggy, leading the industry with the first internal closed-loop construction. The firm believes that the Chinese tourism industry places higher demands on supply chain capabilities and fulfillment guarantees. In addition, Chinese OTAs' brand awareness has been solidified for many years, unlike overseas OTAs that mainly focus on PC bookings and have fast traffic migration, so the firm believes that the impact of AI is relatively lagging behind. Of course, this year OTA and GenAI are strengthening cooperation and exploration, with promising results. Risks: Risk of technological iteration, macroeconomic weakness.