China Travel International Investment Hong Kong (CTII) plans to become a major force in the mainland market for European tours if travel restrictions are removed later this year.
Managing director Shen Zhuying yesterday said that CTII expected the number of business travellers flying to Europe to jump by more than 60 per cent to one million if China and the European Union reached agreement on easier cross-border travel in the second half of the year.
'This new line of business will become our development focus for this and next year,' he said after the company's annual general meeting. 'In the mainland, all our joint ventures and wholly owned travel agencies in eight cities will kick off a nationwide European tour promotional campaign once the agreement is signed.'
The hotel and tour operator has established travel agencies in Britain, France, Germany and Sweden in a bid to cash in on the opening up of the European travel market for mainland tourists.
Asked if CTII would scale down its low-margin Hong Kong-Macau tour operations, Mr Shen said the division would need restructuring.
CTII's Hong Kong tours for mainlanders have continued to decline in value as competition forces agencies to drop tour fares.
Mr Shen said some tour agencies charged only 400 yuan for a five-day package tour to Hong Kong and Macau, when the real cost was 1,200 yuan.
