China National Travel Service Group (CTS Group), the country’s largest tourism conglomerate, plans to launch an RMB 50 billion investment fund for travel businesses, part of efforts to diversify into the finance sector amid fierce competition brought on by booming online travel agencies.

It will be the latest state-level juggernaut to tap financial services to reinforce China’s go-global strategy, targeting aggres­sive acquisitions around the world.

It will also be the country’s largest investment fund focusing on the tourism sector.

Aside from travel agency businesses, the group also engages in operations of scenic spots, hotels and logistics.

Last year, China’s tourism sector saw investment of more than 1 trillion yuan, 57 per cent of which was derived from privately owned businesses.

The sizzling growth of online travel service firms, which became the primary choice for millions of mainland Chinese tourists, also ratcheted up pressure on the state-owned giants to overhaul their businesses and fine-tune services.

China National Travel Service was expected to report a net profit of 6 billion yuan on revenue of more than RMB 100 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

The revenue would be at least 20 billion yuan more than the combined figure for last year.

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