Ctrip (NASDAQ: CTRP) is the largest online travel agency in China and offers accommodation reservation, transportation ticketing, packaged tours, and corporate travel services. It operates four prominent brands, Trip.com, a global OTA, Ctrip and Qunar, Chinese OTAs, and Skyscanner, a global travel search company.
Additionally, the company provides travel related services such as travel insurance, visa services, and travel financing.
To sustain growth, Ctrip has been investing in complementary businesses such as eLong and Qunar in 2015, MakeMyTrip, Skyscanner and China Eastern Airlines in 2016, and an offline travel agency in 2018.
What Are The Alternatives?
Other OTAs in China, such as Fliggy, Meituan, and Tuniu.
Has 5 Operating Segments-
1. Accommodation Reservations: Ctrip earns commissions from its hotel suppliers on bookings done through its website. The commission charges depend on the arrangement with the hotel supplier, which could be based on a fixed rate or a variable rate. Moreover, the company enables its suppliers to enter into a guaranteed allotment contract, where hotel suppliers have to keep room inventory for instant bookings, or an on-demand contract, where the supplier is requested for confirmation.
2. Transportation Ticketing: Apart from air tickets, Ctrip offers railway and bus reservations under its transportation ticketing services. The company acts as an agent for all major Chinese airlines such as Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, and most of the international carriers.
3. Packaged Tours: Though the company primarily targets independent travelers to group tours but, provides packaged-tours and bundled transportation arrangement services as a complementary offering.
4. Corporate Travel: The company provides all its travel-related services such as hotel bookings and ticket reservations as a separate offering for corporates, enabling them to efficiently manage business travel costs. Travel management solutions such as travel data collection and analysis, cost-saving analysis, and industry benchmarks are few additional services provided by the segment.
5. Other Businesses: The company’s advertising revenues are recognized under the other business category.
