Last week's announcement that "Ctrip.com has partnered with Amadeus to power its global expansion" has largely gone unnoticed, despite some very clear indications that this could be a significant moment in the evolution of online travel.
Ctrip's has not responded to requests for interviews nor written responses to emailed questions. Amadeus was more forthcoming, in its carefully worded way.
The clues are all there in the release issued by Amadeus' Singapore office. Ctrip itself appears to have said nothing officially other than a quote in the release and a bylined blog post on Amadeus' corporate site from Xiong Xing, CEO of Ctrip's Air Ticketing Business Unit, Ctrip.
Xing says:
"Being a truly international travel player is paramount to our success in the future."
He names Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea and the US as the four "points of sale" where the Amadeus "will provide all the air content".
Other markets identified for Ctrip are Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Thailand. Europe is not on the list.
Dedicated US and Canadian points of sale, with flights powered by Amadeus, is a compelling proposition. Ctrip will use Amadeus Master Pricer TravelBoard, already used by seven of the world's top ten online players, according to Sebastien Gibergues, Amadeus' head of leisure online and travel media.
This should give Ctrip's US point of sale flights inventory comparable with other OTAs.
Gibergues also pointed out that Amadeus has partnered with Ctrip in Hong Kong "for the past few years" meaning there is a longstanding relationship between the two.
So while the flights for Ctrip's global sites will come from Amadeus, where could the other content come from? Enter stage left Travelfusion, the UK-based aggregator which Ctrip invested in earlier this month. It has access to 700,000 hotel properties.
Travelfusion also has rail booking engine as capabilities. Currently this is very much focused on European operators although it does have access to Canada's Via Rail)
Could there be any significance in the fact that the Amadeus/Ctrip deal was actually signed at an Amadeus event in November but was only announced last week, a few days after Ctrip confirmed the Travelfusion deal?
Ctrip's relationship with Priceline also needs a mention. Priceline invested $500 million in Ctrip last August, ramping up their hotel inventory sharing commercial agreements at the same time.
Another possible benefit of the Ctrip/Priceline combi is the former's ability to tap into the Google expertise of the latter. Clearly Ctrip will have to engage with Google if it wants to establish its OTA presence in the US and Canada, and Priceline could help on that front too.
Ctrip also has cash to spend on this international expansion. Its cash and equivalents at the end of the Q3 came in at $1.8 billion, so the marketing budget could be quite substantial.
The next set of financials from Ctrip are due within the next month or so - dates to be confirmed - so hopefully some concrete details might emerge.
But there is no doubt that China's biggest OTA is looking to make its mark as "a truly international player", and that is something every OTA, supplier and tech provider should be aware of.
NB: China flag image by Shutterstock