James Liang, founder of Ctrip.com, wins prestigious WTM World Travel Leaders Award

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Written by Linda Hohnholz

LONDON, England – Entrepreneur James Liang has won a prestigious World Travel Market 2014 World Travel Leaders Award in recognition of the huge impact his online travel agency Ctrip.com has made on th

LONDON, England – Entrepreneur James Liang has won a prestigious World Travel Market 2014 World Travel Leaders Award in recognition of the huge impact his online travel agency Ctrip.com has made on the Chinese travel industry.

The Awards give WTMโ€™s Official Media Partners โ€“ which represent key travel industry media around the world โ€“ an excellent platform to congratulate and recognise those companies and individuals which have made significant contributions to travel and tourism in their region or sector.

Three nominations from each of WTMโ€™s media partners were judged in September by a panel of three, consisting of an independent body, a representative of WTM and the relevant media partner.

Since Liang founded Ctrip in 1999, it has become one of the most successful internet companies in China, and listed on NASDAQ in 2003.

The company has moved with the fast pace of global tourism as China has become the largest and fastest growing market in the world. The companyโ€™s โ€˜Ctrip travellingโ€™ app has 100 million registered users.

Liang is a professor of economics at Beijing University, has a PhD in Economics from Stanford University and is a published author.

Geoffrey Breeze, Marketing Director, World Travel and Tourism Council, said: โ€œAt its simplest, Ctrip is not just the number-one online travel agent in China, but arguably itโ€™s the most influential OTA (online travel agent) worldwide โ€“ or soon will be.โ€

Every year, World Travel Leaders Awards are presented at WTM. The full list of 2014 winners is:

Brazil: Eduardo Nascimento, President of Nascimento Turismo Operadora

China: James Liang, Chairman and CEO of Ctrip.com

India: Jehangir Katgara, Chairman & Managing Director of TBI Trail Blazer Tours India Private Limited

Italy: Venetian Villas

Portugal: Andrรฉ Jordan, Founder of the Andrรฉ Jordan Group

Russia: Association of Tour Operators

Spain: Turespaรฑa

Travolution/technology: David Speakman, Chairman, Travel Counsellors

UK: EasyJet

Middle East: The Gulf Hotel Bahrain

USA: Roger Dow, CEO, US Travel

Canada: Air Canada

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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