Popular Chinese travel website Qunar.com, part owned by web search company Baidu (BIDU.Nasdaq), may launch an initial public offering on US markets this year, Bloomberg reported. The firm’s CEO, CC Zhuang, said that Qunar’s sales in 2011 doubled to “a few hundred million” renminbi, and management will consider an IPO “as soon as the market becomes stabilized.” Qunar sold a US$306 million majority stake to Baidu in June 2011. The company sells travel ads against its flight and hotel booking information search engine, and competes with the likes of Ctrip.com International (CTRP.Nasdaq) and Elong, part owned by Tencent Holdings (0700.HKG). China’s tourism market is the world’s fastest growing: Boston Consulting Group expects the market to grow 14% annually until 2020. Online travel bookings made up 7% of the country’s overall tourism market, but Zhuang said that he expects the figure to rise to 30% within five years, comparable to Western market levels.
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