OTAs in China: Consumers Look, But Will They Book?

September 29, 2011

New PhoCusWright report explores traffic volume and visitor behavior across key online travel categories in China

In the battle to attract Chinese travelers, online travel agencies have the upper hand, at least in terms of bringing consumers to their websites. According to a new report from PhoCusWright, the OTA category attracts more visitors than any other travel category in China, including supplier websites. PhoCusWright's China Online Travel Traffic Report, created in partnership with global digital intelligence provider comScore, finds that nearly 30% of visitors to a travel category website in China visit an OTA site, compared to just 5% that visit an airline site, for instance. However, offline booking channels remain critical, even for China’s online travel leaders.

"China is home to one of Asia's larger online travel markets, and yet only 14% of the country's Internet population has visited a travel category website," says Douglas Quinby, senior director, research at PhoCusWright. "China is also home to some of Asia's great online travel successes, and these local market leaders have recognized that online travel success means robust and sometimes innovative offline support."

PhoCusWright's China Online Travel Traffic Report analyzes traffic volume, unique visitors, cross-visitation and source/loss patterns across key travel subcategories, including online travel agencies (OTAs), airlines, metasearch, traveler review websites and more. Key coverage includes:

• Traffic to travel website categories with in-depth analysis of 1Q11, including:
  • Online travel agencies
  • Airlines
  • Ground transportation
  • Metasearch
  • Travel guides and traveler review sites
• Travel website rankings within each travel category, including average monthly unique visitors
• Comparison of traffic to supplier websites versus OTAs and non-transactional sites
• In-depth analysis of key online players, including cross-visitation, source and loss traffic

With online travel bookings in China projected to spike over the next several years, the competition to attract consumers will intensify – both within and across travel categories. PhoCusWright's China Online Travel Traffic Report (US$695), a Global and Asia Pacific Edition publication, provides travel companies with the strategic intelligence necessary to understand and compete in this dynamic marketplace.

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