One of China's biggest domestic travel agencies, Trip.com Group, recently rolled out a global platform catering to the rising market of small-group, customized and individual tours where a hired driver also acts as a tour guide.

"Our current goal for the platform is to cover more than 2,000 destinations worldwide and provide systematic training and certification for 100,000 drivers/tour guides," says Chen Ruiliang, senior vice-president of the agency.

The platform consists of four main modules, including onboarding review and performance monitoring modules, which are up and running, and a career growth system and training certification modules are expected to be operational by the end of October or early November, Chen says.

The platform began recruiting drivers/tour guides in mid-September, particularly college graduates, from dozens of cities from home and abroad, including Chengdu of Sichuan province, Xi'an of Shaanxi province and Kunming of Yunnan province, as well as London, Paris, Milan and Sydney.

Since the beginning of the year, the travel agency has seen a 140 percent increase over the same period of 2019 in the overall car rental business.

"We believe the market potential is immense and will actively promote the platform to help standardize and regulate the market further," Chen says.