Ctrip crowded out

• Published 05 Mar 2009

Changing market conditions mean China's leading online hotel and flights reservation provider is losing ground to some ambitious competition.

Nasdaq-listed Ctrip.com, an online hotel and airline ticket reservation provider, has long been a darling of investors seeking exposure to China’s travel sector. Little could be more compelling, after all, than the idea that each year millions of newly-minted middle-class consumers will take to the skies and luxuriate in upscale hotels. But changing conditions mean the wheels are coming off the concept of Ctrip as the perennial industry leader.

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