Luxury Escapes expands into China with YIDU, a joint venture with Zanadu Travel
Luxury Escapes have today announced their expansion into China with the launch of YIDU, a joint venture with leading Chinese travel brand Zanadu.
The first online flash purchase platform of world luxury hotels in China, YIDU will unite Luxury Escapes deals with Zanadu’s on the ground Chinese tourism market expertise through a new technology platform. YIDU will offer accommodation packages, cruises and eventually flights and experiences for both domestic Chinese and global travel.
The name YIDU is a reference to the partnership, combining elements from both brands (逸 Yi means Escape as verb while 度 Du is part of Zanadu and in this context means time spent or time passed while also a part of the word vacationing (度假). The word YIDU in full translates as “taking a leisurely escape”.
The launch of YIDU capitalises on China’s large and rapidly growing tourism market. The biggest outbound tourism market in the world, China’s online travel transaction reached over A$245billion in 2017, and the number of China’s domestic tourists broke through 5 billion trips, a year-on-year growth of about 12.8%.
Further, McKinsey forecasts that by 2020, number of Chinese outbound trips will reach 160 million – over 8.8x more than Australian travelers - A$243 billion of which is expected to be transacted online. ”The China travel market presented us with a significant opportunity and to scale quickly and effectively we decided to partner with a trusted entity in China to form YIDU as a joint venture with Zanadu” Luxury Escapes CEO Cameron Holland says. “Zanadu bring speed, agility and on-the-ground China tourism expertise to YIDU.”
Zanadu is China’ leading high-end travel brand. The most awarded Chinese luxury online travel agent (OTA) Zanadu has over 2 million users, primarily targeting the growing upper-middle class. Zanadu’s travel products include boutique and luxury hotels, villas and short-term rental, domestic and international package trips and bespoke itineraries.
“We are very excited about YIDU, a joint venture with Luxury Escapes, to bring affordable luxury travel to the Chinese market. Luxury Escapes is a pioneer in this innovative business model with great track-record and extensive hotel partnerships in Asia Pacific region” said Zan Wu, founder and CEO of Zanadu. “China’s massive middle-class market are ready for a consumption upgrade and will rejoice in the curation and incredible value that Yidu has to offer.”
“Chinese consumers are the most tech savvy in the world. Around 94% of travelers visit an online price comparison when planning their trip and most also use an OTA to book their trip. This combined with the shift in younger Chinese customers seeking out experience-based travel demonstrates a strong fit for the YIDU model.” said Holland.
