Lion Travel Service Co Ltd (雄獅旅行社), one of the nation’s biggest travel agencies, aims to boost its market share of outbound travel business in Taiwan to between 30 percent and 35 percent within five years, after launching a new subsidiary to expand its client base later this year.
Based on the travel agency’s internal statistics, a total of 1.3 million outbound travelers in Taiwan booked tours, flights or hotels for their overseas trip through Lion Travel last year, which translates into between 12 and 14 percent of the market.
However, aiming to be a travel agency capable of expanding into the global market, Lion Travel chairman Jason Wang (王文傑) said he expects the company to boost its market turnover to between 30 percent and 35 percent in the next five years.
“To meet the goal, the company has to build up a platform offering products with higher diversification,” Wang told a news conference before the company’s annual party yesterday.
Lion Travel launched an investment holding company earlier this week, which may serve as a platform providing Lion Travel products, Wang said, adding that the platform may even sell tours offered by its peers eventually.
In addition to its core business in Taiwan, Lion Travel is accelerating the pace of its development in China, hoping to gain approval to conduct outbound and domestic tourism business for Chinese travelers soon.
The company has invested US$20 million to launch related businesses in the Shanghai free-trade zone, aiming to get the required licenses to allow it to start outbound and domestic tourism businesses in China.
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