Ctrip

From Near Collapse to Global Travel Giant

In 1999, four dreamers—James Liang, Neil Shen, Min Fan, and Qi Ji—set out to change the way China travels. Back then, booking a flight or hotel was a nightmare—long phone calls, unreliable agents, and no clear prices. So they built Ctrip, an online travel platform to bring order to the chaos.

At first, no one believed in them. “Chinese people won’t book travel online,” critics said. But they pushed forward.

Then came 2003.

The SARS outbreak hit China hard. Flights were empty. Hotels shut down. The travel industry collapsed overnight. Ctrip’s revenue dropped to almost zero.

For most companies, this would have been the end. Competitors downsized, cut jobs, and waited for the crisis to pass.

While the world stood still, Ctrip built for the future.

When the SARS crisis ended, Ctrip was stronger than ever. People were eager to travel again, and Ctrip was ready. They dominated the market, went public on NASDAQ, and started expanding beyond China.

Hard times don’t break you. They build you.