According to PhoCusWright's China Online Travel Traffic Report Second Edition, created in partnership with comScore, fewer than one in five Internet users in China visited a travel website in 2Q12 – making travel among the country's smallest online categories.
If China’s economy is slowing, no one told the country’s online travel market. Visitors to travel websites in China are increasing nearly six times faster than total Internet traffic, with growth among the country’s online travel agencies and metasearch sites leading the charge.
According to PhoCusWright’s China Online Travel Traffic Report Second Edition, created in partnership with comScore, fewer than one in five Internet users in China visited a travel website in 2Q12 – making travel among the country’s smallest online categories. Yet online travel traffic during the quarter was greater than that in Australia, India and Japan combined. Visitors to travel websites in China jumped 40% year over year in 2Q12, compared to 7% growth for total Internet traffic.
“Double and triple-digit gains are commonplace for travel websites across nearly all categories, including airline and hotel websites,” said Douglas Quinby, PhoCusWright’s senior director, research. “But it is online intermediaries who are delivering exceptional growth, led in particular by China’s leading metasearch site Qunar.”
Traffic to half of the 10 most visited Chinese OTAs grew in triple digits between 2Q11 and 2Q12, led by packaged travel specialist Tuniu, whose monthly unique visitors surged more than 300%. Travel metasearch site Qunar saw its traffic nearly triple in 2Q12 following the company’s acquisition by Baidu in June 2011. And while supplier websites attract the smallest share of China’s online travel traffic, visitation to both the hotel and airline categories roughly doubled between 2Q11 and 2Q12.
Tatiana is the news co-ordinator for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). Her role includes to monitor the hundrends of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skim the most important according to our strategy. She holds a Bachelor degree in Communication & Mass Media from Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens and she has been editor and editor-in-chief in various economic magazines and newspapers.
