Chinese online leisure travel company Tuniu recently expressed its intention to enhance its services being offered to compete with CTrip.

It appears that CTrip.com is shaping to be the only dominant player left in the online travel market. This was not true a couple of months ago, but with the recent closure of Maidou Travel, Taozailushand, and Ailvxing, Ctrip might be on its way to complete control of the market.

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Tuniu president and chief operation officer Yan Haifeng told the South China Morning Post that "For the next few years, we expect our air ticketing business to see a fast growth rate in both domestic and international flight bookings."

Tuniu revealed that air ticket transactions completed through the company's online platform went up by 13 times compared to its second quarter performance last year. In the same quarter, hotel booking increased by 22 times.

As part of the company's effort to increase its market visibility. Tuniu founder and chief executive officer Yu Dunde appointed has Jay Chou to be the Tuniu's new chief product officer. Chou, who previously held the position of image spokesperson, is expected to use his star power to boost Tuniu's popularity, according to China Tech News.

Tuniu also revealed that it is in negotiations with several airlines to form tie-ups. Tuniu is reportedly in negotiations with Air China, China Eastern Airlines, Capital Airlines, and Hainan Airlines.

In January, Tuniu announced its plans to upgrade its online hotel booking service to better serve its customer base. Around the same time, Tuniu also closed several deals with Chinese and international hotel firms including Gullivers, Expedia, JTB, Hotelbeds, DOTW, and DidaTravel.

TagsTuniu, Tuniu services, Tuniu online services, Tuniu market, online booking market, online hotel platform