"This is really a big problem for international travel agencies because we have a range of well-developed technical systems, such as highly customized self service reservation engines, traveler tracking and reservation quality checks, that could be interfaced with the GDS, but not TravelSky," Liu says.

Most international travel agencies are developing local systems that could be interfaced with TravelSky, but "the best solution is the CRS sector be deregulated," he said.

The outbound tourism sector is also a restricted area for international players in China.

But according to Liu, the regulation restricts leisure travel agencies, not foreign business travel agencies like HRG and American Express.

(China Daily 02/09/2007 page15) 

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