In an effort to further accommodate the ever-relevant Chinese traveler, TripAdvisor announced a new Chinese brand name and app on Wednesday.
Formerly operating under daodao.com in mainland China, TripAdvisor has rebranded as "Mao Tu Ying," combining the Chinese characters for "owl" and "journey," a nod to the major travel site's logo.
TripAdvisor has also introduced a new app to "better serve Mainland Chinese outbound travelers (and) Chinese-speaking users from Hong Kong (and) Taiwan, as well as the rapidly growing diaspora of Chinese natives living and studying around the world," per a release. The company also said it's targeted toward "overseas Chinese living outside of the mainland China firewall."
The app will include features specifically designed around China, including Chinese language travel guides and the ability to share via WeChat, China's major social media platform.
"In addition to projections that mainland Chinese outbound travelers will grow by double digits from 110 million to 230 million by 2020, we recognize that there are also nearly 50 million people of Chinese descent globally," said Stephen Kaufer, president and CEO of TripAdvisor.
"As the world's largest travel site, TripAdvisor can deliver a comprehensive and trusted way to research, plan and book travel for the global Chinese community," he added.
TripAdvisor currently features three Chinese language sites. It not only operates sites for mainland China and Taiwan, but it also introduced a new international site in simplified Chinese in March.
TripAdvisor said Chinese users have logged more than 60 million sessions on the site in just the first four months of 2015.
TripAdvisor's revenue ($363 million) grew by 29 percent from the first quarter of 2014 through the first quarter of 2015, according to results released by the company. Asia-Pacific revenue jumped 20 percent to $42 million, representing 12 percent of total sales.
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