China Travel News

The corporate travel management arms race in China is heating up since the country's business travel market continues to surge. China, however, is an extremely complicated market with its own unique idiosyncrasies and pitfalls.

In its short history, Skift has talked about the balance of power in travel heading East, whether it is the influence of Chinese travelers, the rise of Ctrip and Alibaba, or the emergence of the Gulf carriers with their luxury long-haul flights. Ctrip's acquisition of Skyscanner is one of those moments that mattered in 2016 and Ctrip's global ambitions are a manifestation of what we have been talking about.

Smart travel companies already know that the Chinese travel market will be absolutely crucial to their future growth and success. But the way they approach that market is what counts, and to do so, they need to be well-informed and tech savvy.

China is already the world's largest business travel market and getting even larger, though most of that travel takes place within the country. We're interested to see how the global industry adapts when more of those business trips are international.

There's no doubt China's economy is going through a downturn, but western travel brands can't blame all of their shortcomings on that point. Much of foreign travel brands' failures or missteps in China -- such as Airbnb or Uber for example -- are probably more likely because they couldn't execute strategies that fit the Chinese market.

With these investments in North America and elsewhere, Ctrip is creating a new online travel agency model. It's one that goes beyond merely booking trips but guaranteeing service levels once travelers arrive abroad.

As the world's fastest-growing region for tourism it's a good sign that some Asian countries can expect to see healthy travel and tourism investment during the next 10 years. But a number of factors could alter these projections, particularly the Chinese market, as more global tourism trends are tested in this region.

U.S. officials are hoping that Asian tourism will continue to be a boon to the domestic travel industry, and driving tourism from India is the next step. A thriving Indian middle-class will only help accelerate outbound tourism growth.

China is a long way from being an open market, but for carriers in China and the UK, this is welcome news. And since it means more flights, and more competition, it could lead to sightly lower fares.

Arnold Donald has done an impressive job turning around Carnival Corp.'s image. Now he has to lead it into the future in an extremely competitive global cruise market.