Chinese search engine giant Baidu announced on Tuesday that it will expand its mapping service outside China, a move to tap the increasing number of Chinese tourists travelling overseas.

The Chinese web services company said that it targets to provide mapping service to over 150 countries and regions globally by the end of the year. It aims to cash in on the growing demand for Chinese mapping service among Chinese tourists traveling overseas, which surmounted more than 100 million last year.

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Baidu's desktop and mobile mapping service, which has already established footholds in 18 countries and regions across Asia Pacific including New Zealand, Japan, and India, revealed that taking Chinese outbound travelers' attention away from Google Inc's mapping service is just one of its moves in internationalization.

Li Dongmin, Baidu Map's general manager, said that the Beijing-based firm will gradually introduce mapping functions in local languages in international markets to help establish its namesake among potential overseas users.

"The goal is to have 50 percent of Baidu Map's users from overseas by 2020," he said.

Aside from just helping plan correct routes and navigations, it will also add online hotel and restaurant reservations as well as group buying services in international markets through collaborating with domestic online travel agencies and e-commerce platform, according to China.org.cn.

Currently, Baidu holds about three-fourths share of the mapping service market in China, with an impressive half a billion active users. Google Map, however, still reigns in terms of the global mapping service market.

Based on the latest report of Internet consultant Analysys International, Baidu map is China's most used mapping application, comprising nearly 71 percent of the market.

TagsBaidu, Google Inc., Google map, Baidu Map, mapping service