Accor SA plans to double its Greater China hotel network to 1,600 properties by 2031, reports Caixin. The move sees the group making the region a core growth engine.

Greater China is already one of Accor’s largest development markets. The Paris-based group operates 829 hotels across 17 brands in the region and has another 506 in the pipeline, Greater China Chief Executive Gary Rosen said at a briefing at Shanghai’s Peace Hotel.

The push reflects a broader bet that China will remain central to global travel demand, even as international hotel chains face intense competition from domestic operators. Chief Executive Sébastien Bazin said China and the United States are the two major markets where Accor does not hold a leading position. In China, local groups such as H World Group and Jin Jiang International Holdings dominate the sector.

Trip.com Group, China’s largest online travel agency, says it expects second-quarter revenue growth to be the slowest in more than three years and warns of a “significant fine” from an ongoing antitrust probe by the country’s top market regulator, reports the South China Morning Post.

The company reported on Thursday that first-quarter revenue rose 17% to RMB 16.2 billion ($2.4 billion), but forecast growth of 3-8% in the second quarter, the weakest since late 2022. Profit for the March quarter dropped almost 42% to RMB 2.5 billion, the lowest since late 2024.

“Rising energy prices and recent geopolitical tensions have led to higher airfares, tighter airline capacity, and disruptions on certain international routes, particularly long-haul travel, contributing to a moderation in air travel demand and changes in booking patterns,” chief financial officer Cindy Wang said on an earnings call on Thursday. The company announced in January by the State Administration for Market Regulation, “could directly result in a significant fine, other financial penalties [or] changes to the company’s business practices”, which “may have a material adverse effect on the company’s consolidated financial position, results of operations, or cash flows”.

Japan’s cabinet on June 19 formally approved raising foreign-visitor visa fees to five times their current levels, reports Caixin. The fee for a single-entry visa will rise to 15,000 yen ($93), from 3,000 yen. The fee for a multiple-entry visa will increase to 30,000 yen, from 6,000 yen.

The visa-fee increase mainly affects countries and regions whose citizens must apply for visas in advance, including China, the Philippines, Vietnam and India. 

The fee increase comes as Chinese travel to Japan is falling sharply. The Japan National Tourism Organization estimated on June 17 that foreign visitors to Japan totaled 3.559 million in May, down 3.6% from a year earlier and marking a second consecutive monthly decline. Mainland Chinese visitors numbered 313,000, down 60.4% from a year earlier, the sixth straight monthly drop, amid worsening China-Japan relations.

China and South Korea have agreed to expand weekly flight rights between the countries for the first time in ​seven years, reports Reuters.

The agreement, reached at bilateral aviation talks held in Seoul on May 27 to 28, will increase passenger flight ​rights by 56 weekly flights to 664 from 608, ​and cargo rights by 14 weekly flights to 68 from ⁠54, South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said.

The ministry ​said the deal would make it easier to add flights on high-demand ​routes such as Incheon to Shanghai and Incheon to Guangzhou, where existing rights had been fully used by both sides. It will also expand routes from South ​Korea’s regional airports, including Busan and Cheongju, to 10 Chinese cities ​such as Guangzhou, Chengdu, Shenzhen, Chongqing and Xian, the ministry said.

Chinese engineers have designed the country’s first tourist submersible equipped to venture as deep as 1,000 metres (3,280 feet) below the ocean surface, reports the South China Morning Post. The move aims to give eventual new momentum to the luxury travel industry.

Engineers at the China Ship Scientific Research Centre in Wuxi plan to build a prototype before the end of the year and enter commercial operation by 2030 for as many as four passengers per trip, says the Post citing state-run media outlets.

Key components including the submersible’s panoramic viewport–one of the hardest parts to design on a deep-sea submersible–have been developed already, China Daily said, quoting research centre director Ye Cong.