
The Chinese version of Airbnb, Tujia.com, is now valued at more than a billion dollars and hopes to branch out of its home market to conquer others around the world.
With its strong appeal to international investors, Tujia.com hopes to expand its activities worldwide and grow beyond China's borders, as its co-founder, Melissa Yang, explained in Bloomberg. First it hopes to open up to other Asian markets, in destinations that are popular among Chinese travelers, such as Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. The young company is also considering progressively opening offices outside its borders in cities such as Paris and Los Angeles.
Basing its development strategy on accommodations for compatriots living abroad, Tujia.com hopes to reach a supply of 400 to 500 million rental accommodations worldwide by the end of the year compared to 300 million at present.
The Chinese platform still has a way to go to catch up to its western homologue Airbnb, which is now evaluated at around 25.5 billion dollars and has a supply of some 1.5 million accommodations in 200 countries and 35,000 cities worldwide (read our article).
Also read:
- A former director at Blackstone becomes financial director at Airbnb
- Record valuation for AirBnB
- Airbnb launches global product suite for businesses
