It was in August 2005 when EyeforTravel had conducted its first conference in China. The excitement during the event, akin to the current status of Chinese market, was quite obvious.

A year later, we are set for the second edition - Travel Distribution China 2006, which will be held on 22-23 August in Beijing, China.

During the conference in Shanghai last year, several opinions came to the fore.

Some felt the intermediaries in China were still in the early stages of the online travel business. They needed to grow their knowledge of e-commerce and use of technology to increase their productivity and efficiency.

It was clear that technology and payment systems in China lagged behind the US but with over 100,000,000 Internet users and more and more online transactions taking place, it was more likely to change.

In spite of the challenges online travel distribution in China looked promising. Providing alternative payment options as credit cards wasn't being widely used. A key task was to simplify the reservation process and required information as Chinese users do not always value the Internet as a convenient option.

Meta-search engines had started to shape up. The traditional channels and corporate travel, too, had their own hurdles.

Challenges not withstanding, the sentiments were bullish.

Last year, the Chinese travel market was tipped to grow at a healthy 12.3 percent CAGR for 2003-2006E, in line with the expected nominal GDP growth of 13.6 percent in 2005 and 14.0 percent in 2006, and expected urban disposable income growth of 17.2 percent in 2005, according to CEIC and Deutsche Bank.