Choice Hotels partners with Chinese OTA
Choice Hotels Asia-Pac, one of Australia’s largest hotel franchise groups, has announced a new global agreement with Chinese online travel agency (OTA), Ctrip.
The new initiative will allow Chinese tourists to find, book and stay at any of Choice Hotels’ 230 Australian properties, quickly and easily. It is the first partnership Choice Hotels Asia-Pac has made with a Chinese tourism provider, and highlights the company’s focus to provide a quality experience to all travellers, including the ever-increasing Chinese inbound market.
Choice Hotels Asia-Pac CEO, Trent Fraser, said he was excited about what this new global partnership will mean for the company’s franchisees.
“China is, and will continue to be, a major market for inbound tourism in Australia and this new initiative shows that we are dedicated to welcoming Chinese tourists to our properties,” Mr Fraser said.
With Chinese tourists contributing more than $8 billion to the Australian economy last year, and China expected by many within the industry to soon top the list for greatest number of inbound travellers visiting Australia, Choice Hotels wants its properties to capitalise on this Asian opportunity.
“Our global partnership with Ctrip opens the door for Choice Hotels to reach into the growing Chinese tourism market,” Mr Fraser added. “New figures released this week show the power and importance of this market to Australian hotels and the wider national economy, so we’re proud to have made it quicker and easier for Chinese tourists to find quality accommodation in a variety of destinations with Choice Hotels.”
New figures released (10 November) by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that 819,000 Chinese tourists visited Australia in September 2016, a rise of 7% compared to September 2015 (766,000).
Strong and consistent visitor numbers over the past 12 months show that more than one million Chinese tourists have visited Australia between September 2015 and September 2016 (1,174,000 Chinese tourists); an increase of 21% compared to 2014-15 (969,100).
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