The EastSong Tour Guide Semianr 2016 has been a perfect venue for a new partnership.  EastSong and Alitrip have signed a strategic partnership to gain more knwoledge in the luxury travel and shopping expectations of chinese tourists.

In 2014 Aligroup was beefing up its travel offering that its online travel business Taobao Travel will become an independent business and brand named Alitrip.

“This independent online travel platform is a logical extension of Alibaba Group’s strategy and we are excited for the opportunity to build Alitrip into a leading platform for China’s online travel sector,” Alitrip general manager Li Shaoshua said in a statement, which erases any doubt that the new site will be a direct competitor to China’s current travel leader Ctrip.

Alitrip already has more than 10,000 vendors on its platform providing plane tickets, vacation packages, and services for hotel booking, visa applications, and tour guides. Among these are Hong Kong flagship carrier Cathay Pacific Airlines and Priceline’s Asia-focused hotel booking site Agoda.com.