Alibaba Group Announces New “Alitrip” Brand and Domain Name, Shares Strategy to Enhance Online Travel Business

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) today announced that its online travel business, Taobao Travel (trip.taobao.com) will become an independent business and brand named “Alitrip” (去啊). Like Taobao Marketplace, Tmall.com and Juhuasuan, “Alitrip” will be another marketplace platform under Alibaba Group with a new independent web domain www.alitrip.com.

Alitrip currently has over 10,000 merchants on its platform providing airplane tickets, vacation packages, hotel booking services, visa application services and tour guide services. This, in combination with Alitrip’s online payment infrastructure and customer protection scheme, differentiates Alitrip from other online travel sites.

Mr. Li also commented, “Traditionally, online travel businesses have always focused on the sales of travel products, while a large unmet demand for travel services remains. We aim to elevate the online travel sector to a higher level through Alitrip’s service offerings.”