Qunar wants us to believe it can sail through a hurricane unscathed but we’ll have to see how the Chinese economic crisis ultimately impacts the travel market.
Qunar has said that it is “closing the gap” with market leader Ctrip and that leisure travel in China is “immune” to the recent slowdown in the country’s growth.
Qunar believes it has an opportunity to step up the average volume figure per hotel on the direct network and wants it to be on par with peers in mature travel markets.
Tuniu has been investing aggressively post its IPO last year. One area that has stood out is the blend of sturdy product procurement and regional expansion
Leisure travel and mini-vacation service Utour Travel recently received a RMB30 million investment, boosting its estimated value to nearly RMB300 million.
"Qunar's y-o-y rev growth reached 120% in Q2, the 5th consecutive quarter of over 100% growth," said Qunar CEO Chenchao (CC) Zhuang,
Tuniu announced its net revenues increased by 111.9% y-o-y to RMB1,518.2 million (US$ 244.9 million) in Q2 2015.
The growth in China's CTM industry is slowing, from 17.2% y-o-y in 2014 to 15.6% this year, with profits at only 4%-6%.