China Herald: Ctrip, Qunar team up in travel market

Kaiser Kuo

While competition can be fierce in China, another feature is even more remarkable. Competitors team up, like Ctrip and the Baidu-supported Qunar have swapped shares. Baidu communication director Kaiser Kuo explains in the New York Times why the companies together can serve better the travel market.

The New York Times:

Despite fears about the health of the Chinese economy, the travel market is still growing. Ctrip’s second-quarter revenue rose 47 percent, to $408 million, from a year ago. Qunar’srevenue increased 120 percent, to $142.1 million in the second quarter.

Kaiser Kuo, the international communications director for Baidu, said the agreement with Ctrip would give Qunar more opportunities to cooperate on mobile search and map-based products.

He also said the two companies would be able to benefit from each others’ strengths in different markets.

“Ctrip is big on high end business travel, Qunar has been more leisure, personally booked travel,” he said. “We’re covering more bases, a broader demographic.”

The travel industry is not the only sector that is seeing companies team up amid steep competition.

Meituan, a group buying service, and Dianping, a consumer review site, agreed to join forces this month with the goal of creating an e-commerce juggernaut.

More in the New York Times.

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