HONG KONG – China Travel International Investment Hong Kong (CTII) is planning to launch an online travel agency in China.
Executive director Michael Ng told TravelWeekly, “The online travel agency is our key direction of development in the long-term.”
“As you see, in the U.S. one-third of the revenue comes from online booking, we believe China will follow this model gradually. This will be a significant point of growth for CTII.”
The initial target travel markets will include Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, and later to include outbound travel.
Ng said the new online travel agency would not carry the name of “China Travel”.
“It’s going to be an independent online travel agency platform that can use our existing resources,” said Ng.
He added that the model would be similar to Expedia or Orbitz in the US. Initial investment for CTII will be at HK$300 million (U.S.$38.6million).