Ctrip yesterday announced the launch of the lowest hotel online booking rates commitment.

From March 10 onwards, Ctrip guarantees the lowest online domestic hotel booking rate. If consumers find any other cheaper offer, Ctrip will pay three times the difference in cash.

Online travel booking in 2009 has reached 30.24 million users, an increase of 77.9%.

Also read::Top Online Travel Booking Websites in China

China Online Travel Websites Market Share by Revenue

According to a latest China online travel booking report by iResearch, China’s total online travel booking revenue in 2009 has increased to $3.74 billion yuan (about US $548 million) from year 2008’s $2.94 billion yuan (US$431 million), up 27.2%.

The top online travel booking websites (by revenue) are:

• Ctrip: 55.6%
• eLong.com: 9.9%
• mangocity.com: 6.2%
• 118114.cn: 5.8%
• 12580.com: 3.2%
• etpass.com: 3.1%
• 17u.com: 2.7%
• aoyou.com: 1.5%
• Others: 12%

Ctrip.com & eLong.com
Both listed in NASDAQ, ctrip and eLong are probably not strange to you as the two biggest online travel service provider in China.

Mangocity.com
Mangocity is an official subsidiary of China Travel Online and engages in business travel management service to corporate clients. It was formerly known as CTI Business Travel Management Company, one of the earliest travel management companies in China.

China Travel Service (Holdings) Hong Kong Ltd. has built its strong reputation in travel industry over 77 years. The travel management company joined Global Specialist Markets (GSM), one of the world’s largest global travel management network in 2006 and became the affiliate of GSM in China and Hong Kong.

118114.cn & 12580.com
This two sites are telecom’s expansion into online business. 118114.cn is ownbed by China Telecom and 12580.com by China Mobile.
118114.cn is more than a online travel website but a lifestyle portal covering travel, hotel, food, and etc. 12580.com is clearly an online travel portal.
Interestingly, “118114″ and “12580″ are two phone numbers in China that local people can dial in to ask for lifestyle information such as the entertainment facilities near a location.

etpass.com
According to its “about us” page on the website, etpass.com was founded in April 2005 by a dozen of fortune 500 companies.

17u.com
This travel website is new to me; according to its official introduction, 17u.com was founded in 2004 and headquartered in Suzhou with over 700 employees.It not only targets consumer customers but also business customers including travel agency, hotels, ticketing organizations, and tourist spots authorities.

aoyou.com
aoyou.com is operated by one of the three largest travel companies in China “CYTS”, founded in 1997 and listed on Dec 3 1997 on shanghai stock exchange?

Online travel booking will likely grow rapidly in 2010 due to the upcoming Shanghai Expo and Guangzhou Asian Games.

Also read::CTrip Guarantees The Lowest Hotel Online Booking Rate

Tripadvisor Acquiring Kuxun.com

TripAdvisor is buying Kuxun.cn, a Chinese flight and hotel search engine, at an undisclosed amount (the rumor is, it is 12 million USD).

TripAdvisor, owned by Expedia, plans to invest over US$50 million in China through late 2011. The budget includes buying Kuxun, launching its own Chinese travel-review Web site, Daodao.com and hiring more staff.

According to the company, Daodao had 4 million unique visitors in September.

Also read::Top Online Travel Booking Websites in China

William Bao Bean gives his views on what opportunities and challenges the Chinese online travel companies are facing.

via Traveldaily

Also read::Top Online Travel Booking Websites in China

According to Hitwise, these are the top sites by visits in Hong Kong for the week ending 26/09/2009:

1. Emirates Airlines www.emirates.com
2. Jetstar www.jetstar.com
3. Tiger Airways www.tigerairways.com
4. Singapore Airlines www.singaporeair.com
5. AirAsia www.airasia.com
6. SilkAir www.silkair.net
7. Cathay Pacific www.cathaypacific.com
8. Malaysia Airlines www.malaysiaairlines.com
9. Cebu Pacific Air www.cebupacificair.com
10. Qantas Airways www.qantas.com.au

Also read::7 Things About Hong Kong Netizens

Top Planned Destination Countries

According to the latest China Outbound Travel Monitor from Nielsen, 85% of Chinese travelers said that they “definitely” or “probably” will travel outside the country at some point over the next 12 months.

The report also finds that short haul trips, such as those to Hong Kong (the most mentioned place to visit), Macau or Taiwan, were the most popular destinations (over 60%). After choosing a destination, nearly half (48%) of China’s outbound travelers turned to online reviews and forums to fine-tune their itineraries, found the survey. They converse via social networks and message boards with others who have made a similar trip or live in the country they are to visit.

The Nielsen survey also found that travelers were much more likely to recall Internet advertising for travel destinations compared to travel advertising on other mediums.

Also read::Top Online Travel Booking Websites in China

Japan now works with Baidu to promote Japan travel online. The deal is said to be over one million yuan.

There are about one million Chinese travelling to Japan every year. Japan tourism board starts promoting Japan travel to Chinese, giving individual travel visa to affluent Chinese in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou from this July.

Also read::Top Online Travel Booking Websites in China