Ctrip Participates in Annual Travel Show 2018 ITB

SHANGHAI, May 18, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- At the annual Travel Trade Show ITB China, Ctrip.com International, Ltd. participated and highlighted the importance of navigating and capturing the Chinese travel market through understanding consumer behavior as well as continuously upgrading related travel products and services. 

ITB China is ITB’S new three-day travel exhibition exclusively focused on the Chinese travel market. As the largest online travel agent in Asia and the second largest in the world, Ctrip engaged fully in the discussion around shaping the future of the Chinese tourism market through continuous cooperation with all travel partners and sharing Chinese travel market trends of the coming years.

Chairman’s Speech

James Liang, Co-founder and Executive Chairman of Ctrip gave his keynote speech at ITB China and shared his views on the future and potential of the Chinese travel market. James Liang analyzed the Chinese market through comparisons with other countries. China is the one of the largest markets for both outbound and domestic travel. While domestic tourism is well developed in China, there are still areas that could benefit greatly from more development. “United States has more cruises than us and while their museum numbers are in the tens of thousands, we only have around a thousand,” said James Liang. Another area that could boost infrastructure development rests in the construction of airports. Despite the size of the country, China has only around 200 airports while there are thousands of airports in the United States. For some economically well-developed cities such as Suzhou, having an airport would ease bottleneck especially during peak travel seasons.

Inbound tourism remains an important area to explore for all stakeholders due to immense future opportunities and growth. “The number of foreigners travelling to China is less than 30 million per year. For the United States, this number rests at 75 million while Japan welcomes around 28 million visitors per year. China is rich in natural and cultural tourism resources. The country has first-class infrastructure such as the high-speed rail lines that link destinations and boost domestic tourism. There are misunderstandings about China since some see the nation as being unsafe, when in fact Chinese cities are even safer than many leading Western countries. We hope that China will make visa requirements easier, a step that would significantly boost growth in inbound tourism,” said Liang.

The Chinese economy and population size provides solid foundations for future growth across all markets. “Sharing the same views as our CEO Jane Sun, tourism promotes peace and respect. We hope that we can promote more fulfilling travel-based exchanges,” said Mr Liang.

Continuous Collaboration

During the three-day ITB China Event, Ctrip announced multiple cooperation projects with travel partners around the world. Joaquim Tomas from Andorra Tourism held talks with Ctrip about opening up markets, upgrading travel products and services and strengthening further cooperation. Since 2018 is the China-EU Tourism Year, Ctrip’s efforts in facilitating travel were also recognized by its EU partners; Ctrip was honored with an award for being one of the best strategic partners by Portugal Tourism Board. Furthermore, Mr Issam Kazim, CEO of Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing paid a visit to Ctrip’s HQ to discuss further collaboration and the establishment of new projects catering to Chinese travelers in Dubai.  

Recognizing Achievements

Organised by the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute (COTRI) since 2004, the Chinese Tourist Welcome (CTW) award is a leading award for the Chinese outbound tourism market. More than 100 tourism providers have been recognised by the quality of their products and services and their ongoing commitment to their Chinese outbound customer base.

Companies from 30 countries and regions across the globe have made submissions to this year's CTW held on the 17th of May at ITB China in Shanghai. 2018 marks the first CTW Award jointly hosted by Ctrip and COTRI. Gold, Silver and Bronze CTW Awards were presented in the categories of Product Innovation ,  Internet/Media ,  Service Quality ,  Marketing and   Overall Performance . Tallink Silja Oy, Merlin Entertainment, Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism, Tourism Ireland and world Tourism Cities Federation respectively took the Gold Awards in these categories.

Ctrip hopes that the CTW will be an award not just aimed at recognising leaders in their respective fields but also be a push for more travel collaborations between China and the world. Mr. Victor Tseng, Vice President of Ctrip said, “CTW reflects the positive impact of travel services in the Chinese outbound market. We remain positive that all stakeholders in the travel ecosystem will benefit from continuous growth in outbound tourism.”

About Ctrip.com International, Ltd.

Ctrip.com International, Ltd. is a leading travel service provider of accommodation reservation, transportation ticketing, packaged tours and corporate travel management in China. It is the largest online consolidator of accommodations and transportation tickets in China in terms of transaction volume. Ctrip enables business and leisure travellers to make informed and cost-effective bookings by aggregating comprehensive travel related information and offering its services through an advanced transaction and service platform consisting of its mobile apps, Internet websites and centralized, toll-free, 24-hour customer service center. Ctrip also helps customers book vacation packages and guided tours. In addition, through its corporate travel management services, Ctrip helps corporate clients effectively manage their travel requirements. Since its inception in 1999, Ctrip has experienced substantial growth and become one of the best-known travel brands in China.

For further information, please contact:

International PR Ctrip.com International, ltd. Tel: (+86) 21 3406 4880 ext 196455 Email: Pr@ctrip.com

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