Conor Yang, chief financial officer for China's Tuniu.com, has told Bloomberg TV that the business is aiming for "non-GAAP break even" by 2018.
Nasdaq-listed Tunui focuses on outbound luxury packages for Chinese individual and group travellers and recently celebrated its 10th anniversary.
Bloomberg asked Yang about the competitive landscape in China, suggesting that its recent addition of air ticketing and accommodation-only bookings was a move to compete directly with Ctrip.
Yang disagreed with this, saying that Tuniu has added these options in order to service demand for independent travel, and that its air and hotel inventory was targetted at destinations where there was a demand for tours.
Elsewhere, he noted that Tuniu works closely with one of its major backers HNA Group to source seat and bed inventory. HNA owns "dozen of airlines in and out of China" and also has investments in the hotel space, most recently taking a 25% stake in Hilton.
JD.com, a Chinese online marketplace, is another investor in Tuniu. Yang said that Tuniu has an exclusive deal to power the vacation packages channel on the site, with "many of their clients converting to our clients."
Yang was also asked about competition from Thomas Cook China, a JV between the eponymous UK-based vertically integrated tour operator and Fosun, another massive Chinese conglomerate which also owns Club Med.
This JV is a more direct threat to Tuniu than Ctrip, although Yang appears unconcerned.
"We have been in the market for ten years so we know the online leisure sector well and we will continue to grow the gap with our peers. We have the best pricing, 1.7 million different options for travellers and, most importantly, the service level needed to make sure our customers are satisfied".
He also pointed out that online only accounts for "10% plus" of China's leisure travel market and that "Ctrip, us and others are taking share from offline travel agents."
Looking ahead, when asked about the path to profitability, he noted that margins had been improving and would continue to do so as the business focussed on operational efficiencies. He said that Tuniu is on track to achieve "non-GAAP breakeven" by 2018.
Here's the interview in full: