Chinese online travel agent Tuniu takes on Ctrip, Qunar in flight bookings market

Tuniu Corp, a Chinese online leisure travel company, has set its sight on the flight booking business, tapping into a field dominated by leading players Ctrip and Qunar.

“For the next few years, we expect our air ticketing business to see a fast growth rate in both domestic and international flight bookings,” Tuniu’s president and chief operation officer Yan Haifeng told the Post in an interview in Beijing.

As China’s top website for package tours, Nasdaq-listed Tuniu has stepped up its expansion in the flight and hotel bookings business since the beginning of this year.

The company said air ticket transactions on its online platform grew about 13 times in the second quarter of this year from a year ago. Hotel bookings in the second quarter increased 22 times from the same period of last year.Despite the rapid growth in this segment, the contribution of the flight booking business is still small compared with Tuniu’s core package tours, Yan said.

“With a faster growth rate compared with our peers and the huge potential, we expect our market share to increase significantly in the future,” he said, without providing any figures.

The prospects for China’s air travel booking market is promising amid a rapid growth in outbound travel. The price competition among online travel agencies was fierce until the merger of Ctrip and Qunar last year, which formed a new dominant force in flight and hotel bookings.

Tuniu is differentiated from other competitors as it targets leisure travellers, Yan said.