Ctrip, China’s largest online travel agency and the second largest in the world has renewed their partnership with the Australian Open, providing local tennis fans the opportunity to continue to directly book and buy tickets.
Ctrip is the tournament’s exclusive online stadium ticket sales partner in China.
“The massive interest in our event from Chinese fans is a wonderful compliment to the Australian Open, the world’s best players and the city of Melbourne,” Australian Open Tournament Director Craig Tiley said.
“Our partnership with Ctrip, a giant in the travel industry, allows Chinese tennis fans to easily book their tickets and organise their travel plans to the Australian Open. We look forward to continuing this ongoing partnerships for another year and experience its ongoing success.
“China has 330 million tennis fans; there are 220 million Australian Open fans in China; 14 million regular tennis players and 30,000 tennis courts – a number that’s increasing all the time.
“With a forecast for Chinese tourism numbers to hit four million a year within 10 years, representing a quarter of Australia’s inbound tourism market, it’s a natural fit for the Australian Open to focus on the travel industry, and make it as easy as possible for fans to buy tickets and access events for years to come,” Tiley added.
Ctrip CEO of Destination Marketing Jenna Qian said, “Tennis has increasingly become popular among the Chinese community, particularly the affluent population that matches Ctrip’s user profile quite well.
“We’re thrilled to continue our partnership with the Australian Open for another year and bring more diverse experiences to Chinese travelers.
“Given the scale of the Ctrip platform, membership and data, we will provide integrated and precise marketing solutions for the tournament, and as a result, bring more Chinese visitors to the Australian Open in 2019.”
Thousands of Chinese visitors attended the Australian Open in 2018 with visitation up 38% and up 20% for the wider Asian region over the same period.
Statistics from Tourism Australia showed a total of 1.4 million Chinese tourists visited Australia over the past 12 months, an increase of 8.8%. For Chinese outbound visitors, 36% had cited sports as one of the reasons for their trip.
According to Ctrip, there are currently over 1000 itineraries to Australia. As a one-stop travel shop for users, Ctrip aims to make travel in Australia an easy and unique experience whether it is through personalised tour guides, QR codes replacing traditional tickets, tours or bookings for specific events.