[photopress:huangshu_tower_1.jpg,full,alignright]Expedia in Australia, fully functional since the beginning of this year, aims to attain the dominant position in Australia that it enjoys in other countries. To do this it is expanding its offering of holiday packages, domestic and international flights and car rentals on the Expedia Australia Web site. Much of it, of course, comes ready-made from the other Expedia sites around the world.
Ignoring all the PR puffery announcements it is apparent that Expedia is looking for a substantial amount of growth from China.
Strangely, Expedia has been in China longer than it has been in Australia. It started in China in 2004 with its investment in eLong, the second largest online Chinese travel company. Expedia in Australia sees the Chinese eLong operation as a major opportunity for expansion coming from the Australian delight in touring new areas.
Australia is unusual in that the annual holiday is typical twice as long as that of the average American which makes international travel possible, desirable and almost, in some cases, essential.
eLong has two consumer websites plus a call center. It offers almost 3,000 hotels in more than 280 cities across China. Flight ticket services are available for China’s 50 major cities. Established in 1999 and based in Beijing it now has over 2,000 employees. eLong went public on NASDAQ in October 2004.
Expedia, the largest global online travel service company, now owns 52 percent stock in eLong. Ignoring the Olympic Games, which will give a massive one time boost, both companies confidently expect a boom in tourism into China from Australia.
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