Ctrip’s online transactions for holiday products in China leapt more than 50% to exceed RMB10 billion (approx: US$1.6 billion) last year
Its co-founder and CEO James Liang said at the company’s 15th anniversary that the company saw high growth rates in all areas with total transactions doubled in two years ago to RMB120 billion (approx: US$19 billion) in 2014.
Group tours and FIT business had an even split of total turnover, while outbound tourism constituted 60% of the business and domestic tourism 40%.
Ctrip also set up independent divisions for tour group and independent travel, two core services for online holiday operations. The tour group division grew more than to almost two million trips.
Outbound travel shows the fastest growth and presents the greatest potential. Ctrip’s outbound travel operations leads the market in both tour group and independent travel transactions organizing trips for over 100,000 travelers per year and handling tens of millions outbound travelers.
Research data show that the online holiday market penetration is not even 10%, leading the industry to expect rapid growth to continue in 2015.
Another trend has been for traditional tour operators to join mobile apps and online platforms in 2014. Ctrip’s platform had up to 980 outbound travel companies covering up to 60 departure cities by November 2014.
Ctrip will focus on great service at a good price in its “double value” strategy to capture more new users and a greater market share. It will also continue to improve its open platform strategy in 2015, promoting fair practice among all its vendors without resorting to evictions and bans. Additionally, Ctrip will invest more than RMB100 million (approx: US$16 million) in the technology and service segments this year.(Translation by David)
