TripAdvisor’s acquisition of Kuxun, China’s No.2 travel search engine, kicked off its ambitious investment plan of US$50 million in China’s burgeoning tourism market over the next two years.
Kuxun will join many other Expedia-owned online travel companies in challenging China’s number one online travel company, Ctrip, whose market share is five times bigger than that of its nearest rival.
These include eLong (China’s number two online travel agency, acquired by Expedia in 2004), Daodao (the recently launched Chinese travel-review website, owned by TripAdvisor), and Egencia China (the travel management unit).
Kuxun means “cool …

For thousands of well-off mainland Chinese, Hong Kong remains a popular destination for luxury shopping. As Hong Kong does not impose the same high (but gradually dropping) luxury tax as the Mainland, luxury fans can obtain their favorite brands for less. Today, CNN International looks at the growing flood of Mainland luxury shoppers that is keeping Hong Kong one of the healthiest luxury markets in the world.