Tuniu Corporation, a leading online leisure travel company in China, today announced the acquisition of majority stakes in each of Zhejiang Zhongshan International Travel Services Co., LTD ("Zhongshan"), a Hangzhou-based travel agency, and China Classical Holiday ("CCH"), aTianjin-based travel agency.
Through the acquisitions of the majority equity interest in Zhongshan and CCH, each of which has a license to offer and operateTaiwan tours in mainland China, Tuniu has gained access to the expanding Taiwan tours market. In 2014, approximately four million tourists from mainland China visited Taiwan, representing a year-over-year growth of 39%. Taiwan was ranked one of the top 5 destinations out of mainland China in terms of the number of tourists from mainland China.
Zhongshan and CCH are among the leading travel agencies in Hangzhou and Tianjin with 20 and 17 years of operation history, respectively. With well-known brand and product development expertise, both Zhongshan and CCH focus on outbound packaged tours and Taiwan tours, which accounted for over 70% of their respective gross bookings in 2014.
Mr. Donald Yu, Tuniu's co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, said, "We are pleased to announce the acquisitions of Zhongshan and CCH, through which we further expand Tuniu's product offerings to Taiwan, a fast growing and popular destination among Chinese leisure travelers. Leveraging the mature supply network of Zhongshan and CCH for Taiwan tours, Tuniu can enter and rapidly expand our presence in the market for Taiwan tours, which we believe will become another driver for the sustainable growth of our business."
Mr. Alex Yan, Tuniu's co-founder and Chief Operating Officer, said, "We are benefitting from Zhongshan and CCH's product design experience and local sourcing, this partnership should further strengthen Tuniu direct-procurement process and allow us to acquire more valuable travel resources in local markets, such as cruise line tickets departing from Tianjin and Shanghai."
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