SHENZHEN, China — Universal Travel Group, a China-based travel services provider, has announced plans to add cell phone recharge functionality to its portfolio of TRIPEASY kiosks.
According to a news release, TRIPEASY kiosks, developed by Universal Travel Group, provide information in response to users' travel-related inquiries.
The kiosks will begin offering cell phone recharge beginning April 1. According to ChinaNews.com, there were approximately 540 million cell phone users in China in 2007, a number that is expected to grow to 730 million by 2010. In addition, large tier-one cities, such as Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Chongqing, where Universal Travel has a strong presence, have about 50 million cell phone users combined.
While the company has a current membership base of 2.5 million people with recharge functionality, it expects traffic at its kiosks to more than double from current levels. The increased traffic could generate significant opportunities for the company to promote and sell its traditional air ticketing, hotel booking and packaged tours businesses.
The TRIPEASY kiosks accept bank cards and provide secured payment functions to finalize transactions. Universal Travel will continue its efforts to add functionality to increase its kiosks' traffic flow including utilities payment, lottery purchase and transportation IC card recharge.
The company plans to have several hundred kiosks in place by mid-2009.
"We are pleased to take the next step in rolling out our revolutionary TRIPEASY kiosks by adding increased functionality, which we expect will significantly drive customer traffic," said Jiangping Jiang, chairwoman and chief executive of Universal Travel Group. "We are looking for the kiosks to make a significant contribution to achieving our growth objectives in 2009. Also, as our kiosks attract a more targeted audience interested in travel-related products and services, and users embrace the concept, we expect to gain marketing efficiencies in the process."
