China’s Qunar sold 250,000 air tickets in one day for Chinese New Year

Chinese travel booking site Qunar (QUNR) sold a quarter of a million plane tickets in a single day for Chinese New Year, compared to 135,000 on its highest volume day last year. The company says it saw strong growth in international travel, tripling the volume of outbound travel bookings compared to Chinese New Year 2013.

On the peak day, half of the air tickets were booked through mobile. Most mobile bookings occurred within 20 days of the trip with a fifth of mobile bookings occurring within three days of the trip.

Additionally, Qunar reached almost five million train ticket queries in a single day.

Baidu-backed Qunar faces stiff competition from Ctrip (CTRP), Elong, and Taobao for the country’s online travel booking market.

Here’s the top 10 international destinations for Chinese New year travelers:

1. Hong Kong, China

2. Taipei, Taiwan

3. Bangkok, Thailand

4. Seoul, Korea

5. Singapore, Singapore

6. Manila, Philippines

7. Phuket, Thailand

8. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

9. Tokyo Japan

10. Chiang Mai, Thailand

And here’s the the top 20 train routes compared to last year:

Year	2014		2013
1	Beijing	Shanghai	Beijing	Harbin
2	Beijing	Harbin	Guangzhou	Chongqing
3	Shanghai	Nanjing	Guangzhou	Wuhan
4	Beijing	Shijiazhuang	Beijing	Shanghai
5	Harbin	Beijing	Shenzhen	Wuhan
6	Beijing	Zhengzhou	Shanghai	Chengdu
7	Shanghai	Hangzhou	Shanghai	Xi’an
8	Guangzhou	Wuhan	Guangzhou	Changsha
9	Shenzhen	Guangzhou	Beijing	Xi’an
10	Beijing	Shenyang	Beijing	Xi’an

(Image credit: Flickr user Travelourplanet)

(Editing by Josh Horwitz)

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