GRABBING A SLICE

Alert Internet companies have been investing heavily in the online tourism sector. Current online tourism agencies (OTA) are digging deep.

Some players simply act as agents and sell traditional tickets and hotel bookings online. Some offer price comparisons services. Some combine offline and online resources to roll out fully customized package trips, and others offer communication platforms for travelers to share experiences.

The three big Internet players Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent have all made forays into the OTA market. Baidu invested into Qunar. Tencent invested into eLong and 17U and has its own QQ Travel service. Taobao has the sparkling originally named, Taobao Travel.

The online travel space is always active with new players. LY.com and Nasdaq-IPO candidate Tuniu.com announced on Monday and Tuesday respectively that the Nasdaq-listed Ctrip, an important OTA, has became their shareholder.

OFFLINE SERVICE STILL THE CORE

Like all e-commerce, online travel is nothing if the offline service in the real world is poor.

The purpose of online travel services is to make travel easier and cheaper, but whether the trip is pleasant mainly relies on the local resources service quality and infrastructure, said Dai Bin, director of the China Tourism Academy (CTA), a think tank with the NTA.

According to CTA, despite its scenic tropical location, Sanya well fell behind others destinations in a Q1 satisfaction survey due to its inadequate public and commercial infrastructure.

"If you don't even have access to WiFi, then smart travel apps are almost useless," Dai added.

Dai wants local governments to focus more on infrastructure and public services while leaving most of the platform development and promotion to market players who understand consumers.