“We remain very confident about our international business, our outbound business,” says Qunar chief strategy officer Yilu Zhao, adding that Qunar’s hotel coverage is strong and the site doesn’t need to partner with a foreign online travel agency.
Since 2011, Chinese general search engine Baidu has controlled more than 50% of Qunar’s voting power and the relationship is unlikely to change in the wake of the Ctrip-Priceline relationship.
Yilu calls Baidu a “staunch supporter” of Qunar, which is China’s largest travel site in terms of traffic, although Ctrip attracts the greatest revenue among travel sites in the country.