Ctrip Chairman Shrugs Off Impact of Trump Tariff Dispute — For Now
Skift Take
Ctrip has been able to spend most of its 15-year history riding a rising travel tide in China while buying out much of the competition to blunt their challenges. For 2019, Ctrip will have to stand up and get moving to recapture momentum and investor attention.
The main emphasis of Ctrip's business is short-haul outbound trips so the impact of the U.S.-China dispute over tariffs is limited, co-founder and executive chairman James Jianzhang Liang told Skift.
"Obviously, in the long-run, it will hurt the global economy and global prosperity," Liang said.
Skift spoke to Liang recently in Shanghai at the company’s annual partner event, which on December 10 marked the travel booking site's 15 years as a public company. The Nasdaq-listed firm is China’s leading travel site by a wide margin, but it could face challenges as new competitors loom. For example, food delivery and online review site Meituan-Dianping fueled up this year to take on Ctrip, raising more than $4 billion in a Hong Kong listing.
The interview was wide-ranging, covering Ctrip's relationship with investor Booking Holdings, the competitive landscape, the impact of airline commission cuts, and China's slowing domestic economy, which doesn't appear as though it will tu
