Ctrip, one of the premium Chinese online travel agency has made ‘strategic investments’ in three U.S. based tour operators with an aim to improve China’s presence in the U.S. as well as to upgrade its destination services to lure Chinese outbound tourists.
ToursforFun, Ctour and Universal Vision are the three tour operators of the U.S. in which Ctrip has made significant investments, referred to as the Quartet by China.
While ToursforFun has its headquarters in Los Angeles and is an online travel agency based on overseas travel, Universal Vision belongs to New York, and it is a travel agency and bus tour operator. On the other hand, Ctour is a Los Angeles-based wholesaler and tour operator.
The goal of Quartet is to offer better quality of services to Chinese travellers who travel to the U.S. and share the resources among both the countries, as per Ctrip.
But then, the terms of the investments are yet to be disclosed.
Currently, Ctrip has the largest market capital that accounts for $24.9 billion and it lags behind the Prieline Group’s $73.2 billion. Ctrip has stated that Ctour and Universal Vision holds over 50% market share in North America and it is mainly for Chinese travel. And, Ctrip has also asserted that ToursforFun is an important platform in the tourism industry.
In a certain statement, Ctrip has mentioned that its strategic investments would play a crucial role in improving the travel services to the Chinese tourists visiting the U.S. as well as strengthening the market position of Ctrip in the West and East Coasts of North America.
The memorandum of the partnership declares that the Quartet would collaborate with one another for the efficient distribution of resources and the channel of receiving customers.
In other words, the investment would make sure that Chinese travellers in the U.S. would be guaranteed high-quality travel experience along with cost-effective products. Moreover, the Quartet would also take care of the customers of Ctrip who travel to Middle East, Europe, Asia and now to North America.
Jenny Wu, the chief strategy officer of Ctrip said that they were working with local ground operators, hotels and airlines to improve their products and obtain the most cost-effective price in order to ensure that their customers can enjoy the best ever price.
