(Yicai) Aug. 15 -- [Editor's note] With the implementation of international environmental, social, and governance standards, industrial development has entered a new era.

Last year marked the 20th anniversary of the ESG concept. At this important historical juncture, the United Nations Global Compact, the Center for Asia-Pacific at China International Communications Group, and Yicai jointly launched the 'ESG+20 Sustainable Development Leadership Interview Series.' This series explores the insights, achievements, and leadership of Chinese businesses in sustainable development and corporate social responsibility through dialogues with Chinese entrepreneurs and on-site visits.

In this episode of the 'ESG+20 Sustainable Development Leadership Interview Series,' we spoke with James Liang, co-founder and chairman of Chinese online travel giant Trip.Com Group. He founded the company when the Chinese tourism industry was at its inception, attempting to leverage the emergence of the internet to provide more convenient experiences to travelers.

"The key to sustainable development lies in innovation," Liang said. "Enterprises need innovation, and national-level innovation capacity relies on more young people to drive it."

As technology advances, the tourism industry evolves and progresses along with innovation. How can artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and augmented reality be applied to the tourism industry in the future? And what new business formats will emerge?

These are the questions whose answers will be the foundation for the future model for innovation, according to Liang.

AI will bring disruptive changes to the tourism industry, Liang believes. It will make travel itinerary planning more efficient while reducing human working hours and eliminating restrictions on office locations.

As a result, human work will become more closely tied to innovation. "Robots are capable of doing many things and are highly efficient, but only humans understand their own needs, so innovation still depends on humans to accomplish," he explained.

Trip.Com has been continuously exploring and innovating the ways of advancing the so-called 'four friendlies' of sustainable development -- family-friendly, community-friendly, environment-friendly, and business-friendly initiatives.

Trip.Com is exploring a low-carbon hotel model to achieve environmentally friendly business operations, according to Liang.

First, the company installs solar panels on hotel rooftops, which can reduce carbon emissions by about 30 percent to 50 percent. Then, it labels these hotels as 'low-carbon' and promotes them to global tourists, who greatly value a low-carbon lifestyle.

"A better society is a sustainable society," Liang said. "Providing high-quality tourism services enables humans to maintain a long-term interest in travel. Through its own efforts and practices, Trip.Com is contributing to the innovative development of humanity."

Trip.Com is one of the first Chinese companies to implement flexible working hours. The future work model should be hybrid, Liang said. Employees should be allowed to choose whether to work from home to complete independent tasks, while being required to work in the office for tasks that demand in-depth interpersonal communication and rapid responsiveness.

"This hybrid work model is beneficial to employees' overall physical and mental health, as they can spend more time with their families and to develop diverse creative ideas," Liang noted.

Trip.Com has implemented family-friendly corporate policies, advocating for the hybrid working model, Liang told Yicai. The firm also provides various childbirth benefits for female employees and partial expense reimbursement for employees using assisted reproductive technology, he added.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione