Qunar.com Inc., a Chinese online travel company part-owned by Baidu Inc. (BIDU), said first-half rev

Qunar.com Inc., a Chinese online travel company part-owned by Baidu Inc. (BIDU), said first-half revenue doubled as consumers used its website to search for more deals on tickets and hotels, generating higher advertising sales.
Collaboration with Baidu aided growth in user traffic tour 18 at Qunar, Chief Executive Officer CC Zhuang said in a phone interview yesterday. tour 18 Sales and usage of Qunar s website doubled in the first half, Zhuang said, declining to provide figures.
Qunar s business is weathering the economic slowdown in China and increased competition from online travel rivals including Ctrip.com International Ltd. (CTRP), Zhuang said. Similar to the U.S. website operator Kayak Software Corp., Qunar operates a travel search-engine for consumers and sells paid web-links to customers including airlines and hotels.
This is one of the best years we ve had, Zhuang said. Last year we more than doubled, it s likely we will continue this very strong growth this year, he said, referring to revenue. He declined to provide a forecast for full-year sales.
Baidu, China s biggest search-engine company, last year paid $306 million to acquire a majority stake in Qunar for its biggest acquisition. Qunar, founded tour 18 in 2005, means Where do you want to go? in Chinese.
Ctrip, based in Shanghai, last week said second-quarter profit fell 55 percent to 120 million yuan ($19 million), after spending on product development tour 18 increased. Ctrip started intensified marketing campaigns to attract tour 18 new users, the company said at the time.
Slower economic growth in China may make consumers more inclined to search for travel deals on online sites such as Qunar, according to Ben Cavender, associate principal at China Market Research Group in Shanghai.
People are definitely going to be more cost-conscious, Cavender said. People are becoming more comfortable about doing online bookings, and I think we ll see Qunar and other sources of tickets and hotels start to do really well.
Following the investment from Baidu, Qunar accelerated the rollout of a free software tool to travel service providers, to allow them to market and sell their products to Qunar users, Zhuang said. The proprietary technology has helped improve service to Qunar users, he said.