Ctrip’s purchase of Skyscanner continued the trend of metasearch consolidation and should provide Ctrip with support for its outbound and inbound businesses.
The Chinese outbound market is booming yet travelers still find low acceptance of their typical payment methods. As travel becomes more accessible to the Chinese lower and middle class offering payment methods such as AliPay and WeChat Pay will be a definitive competitive advantage.
Thomas Cook has hit the ground running in China but it's not running away from its core business in Europe. The group doesn't want to be too aggressive in China before its made more of a name for itself in the market and sees how consumers respond.
The Great Wall of China doesn’t need Hollywood to remain one of the world’s wonders. But stampedes of Chinese tourists still threaten an edifice that northern armies failed to conquer.
China is the largest jackpot that many destinations including Australia are aggressively targeting but they should also ensure they have enough hotel rooms to keep up with demand before they open the marketing campaign and flight floodgates.
Chinese consumers are responsible for one-third of the world’s personal luxury spending, but the consumers are younger and more affluent than the sector is accustomed to serving. Speaking directly to this group will pay off with loyalty and service for decades to come.