Airbnb’s Chinese rival Tujia.com, is looking to expand as it chases the rapidly growing number of Chinese people traveling abroad to popular destinations in Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea, reports CNN.
Tujia’s was founded in 2011 and became a unicorn in 2015. Its model is similar to that of Airbnb, except it doesn’t allow individual property owners to post listings of their homes on Tujia.com, owners have to go through property agents and managers first.
In 2016 the portal set up a small team in Japan and its co-founder Melissa Yang says bookings have now quadrupled there in just one year.
“We know China travelers the best,” Yang said. “We follow whatever Chinese travelers want.”
