World's tourism giant IAC Travel enters into the Chinese mainland tourism market by taking over 30 percent of eLong stakes, a leading online travel agency in China.

IAC sees great growth potential in China which represented 87 billion USD worth of market value on travel in 2003. It forecasts the value will rise to 300 billion USD in 2014.

eLong was founded in 1999 and based in Beijing. It runs two websites. Reservation for more than 2, 100 star hotels in the mainland and 40,000 star hotels from 108 overseas countries and regions are available online at a discount of 30 to 80 percent. It also provide air ticket sales and delivery services in 50 cities in the Chinese mainland.

Experts say as the tourism industry booms in the Chinese mainland, online booking for air tickets, hotels and car rent is increasingly popular. This practice is convenient and economical.

By People's Daily Online