Online Travel Booking Grows in China, But Traditional Agents Still Dominate
Photo Credit: Chinese travelers exploring Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. Skift / Dan Peltier
Skift Take
Even though we're only talking about booking sites having 20 percent penetration in China, that's still a big number--between 30 to 40 million people--that continue to grow more accepting towards booking sites and the Internet on which they live.
Chinese travelers still trust and use traditional travel agencies more than online booking sites in 2016. But the percentage of online travel agency penetration in China reached a record high level last year.
According to a Chinese outbound market report from the Chinese Outbound Tourism Research Institute (COTRI), 20 percent of the 120 million Chinese outbound travelers booked travel using an online travel agency in 2015. That's a seven percent increase over 2014 and the strongest indicator that booking sites continue to be more accepted throughout China.
Chinese consumers felt less pressure from pricing wars late last year when Ctrip took a stake in Qunar and began working together, a powerful alliance among two of China's largest booking sites. That's
