China heading to $1billion online travel revenues (well sort of and I think it already did)

Thanks to China Industry Travel Blog and Seeking Alpha I came across some online travel numbers for the China market.

The Data Center of the China Internet (DCCI) released its 2008 China Internet Survey including the following commentary on online travel.

Revenue of China's online travel and hotel reservation services climbed 65.4 percent year-on-year to RMB 2.25 billion ($309.1 million). Revenue of the sector is expected to hit RMB 3.84 billion ($527.5 million) in 2008 and RMB 7.32 billion ($1 billion) in 2009, driven by the Olympics and the further opening of China's tourism market.

Ctrip remains the leader in China's online travel and hotel reservation market, followed by Elong, Auyou and MangoCity.

Important point is as I have said before most of what is online in China is actually offline.

Also PhoCusWright are already reporting China at above the $1billion mark.