Ctrip’s recent acquisition of Skyscanner sent waves through
the travel industry and marked another big deal by a Chinese firm investing in
leisure and hospitality outside the country. It was also a demonstration of the
ambition of Ctrip, which has grown dramatically over the last few years, also acquiring
metasearch company Qunar in 2015.
The figures suggest that this is already an Online Travel
Agent (OTA) giant just on the basis of Chinese sales, let alone its ambitions
further afield. One estimate from 2015 projected that
the company already oversaw 70-80% of the country’s OTA
market and another from that same year reckoned that Qunar controlled around
32% of air ticket sales and Ctrip 39% of hotel bookings.
EyeforTravel has also found that Chinese consumers are
heavily mobile- and OTA-focused when it comes to researching and buying travel,
giving a further advantage to Ctrip. It seems that the rest of the world might
need to look out.
Keep an eye out for our upcoming Chinese Travel Consumer
report, which is coming soon.
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