China’s ride-hailing giants follow tourists abroad

Chinese travelers can book a ride overseas without leaving Didi Chuxing and Ctrip’s native apps

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China’s ride-hailing giants follow tourists abroad

Published: 7:30pm, 5 Oct 2018Updated: 8:41am, 20 Sep 2019

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

Seven million Chinese tourists -- equivalent to the entire population of the US state of Washington -- are expected to travel abroad during Golden Week, an annual holiday underway in China.

And this year, there’s one piece of Chinese technology they don’t need to leave behind: Ride-hailing apps from home.

Ctrip, China’s biggest online travel agency, says their users can now get a ride in more than 1,000 cities around the world directly through its app. Payments are done using Chinese currency, and chats with local drivers are automatically translated both ways.

A quick look through the app shows the feature is available in popular destinations for Chinese tourists, such as Tokyo, Bali, Bangkok, Seoul, and Singapore. Other major cities listed include Abu Dhabi, Barcelona, London, Paris and New York.

A demonstration of a user booking a ride in London using Ctrip’s Chinese app. (Picture: Splyt)

Adding ride-hailing to its portfolio makes sense for Ctrip. The Shanghai-based agency, which goes by the name Trip.com outside of China, already offers a variety of booking services including hotels, air travels, train tickets, local tours and attractions, and more.

But it’s facing competition from a seasoned Chinese rival. Just last week, Didi Chuxing began offering taxi rides in Osaka, Japan.