What is the relationship between Tongcheng and Ctrip?

In the Chinese travel market, Tongcheng and Ctrip are two high-profile online travel service giants. Together, they provide consumers with a variety of services including travel product bookings, hotels and air tickets. However, the two companies' respective business strategies differ. Tongcheng tends to serve small and medium-sized travel agencies and individual consumers and pursues comprehensive integrated services, while Ctrip focuses on covering the mass market and strives to attract more users. Although their main businesses overlap, they all have significant market influence and have a profound impact on market dynamics.

Although Tongcheng and Ctrip are competitors in the competition for market share, their relationship is not purely antagonistic. For example, Qunar.com’s investment in Tongcheng in 2015 prompted the two parties to cooperate to create a hotel booking platform, showing the possibility of them seeking cooperation in certain areas. Ctrip's acquisition strategy has allowed it to occupy a leading position in the air ticket sales and online travel markets, while Tongcheng has also occupied a place in the market through its own efforts. In 2018, they also further deepened their cooperation in the corporate market through Ctrip's enterprise-level air ticket booking platform "Ctrip Enterprise Edition".

In general, although Tongcheng and Ctrip have differences in business models and market positioning, as key players in the Chinese tourism market, they both compete and influence each other, and jointly promote the progress and development of the industry.