kkin365

Ctrip.com Is Going Places

I was on an extended tour of China in October 2005 (to visit locations made famous by Zheng He, who led 7 international voyages beginning in 1405, decades before Columbus did to N America), and had a chance to visit several interior airports in China such as Kunming and Xiamen. With a position in Ctrip, I paid special attention to its activities. I noticed that it had booths at various airports, soliciting new members. Few stopped by -- no different from various frequent-flying airlines soliciting for members in the US airports. I have no idea how residents in China sign on to Ctrip's on-line services. My experiences with US-based on-line trip arrangers in USA (4 times in recent months) suggest that doing so is not easy. Paying for tickets is one problem, checking in with e-tickets is another.