C-Travel International, a Cayman Island company which is wholly owned by Ctrip.com (CTRP), has taken a minority stake in ezTravel.com.tw.

ezTravel is a leading online travel service provider in Taiwan that offers both individual and group tours in addition to hotel and airline tickets reservation services.

The transaction has been approved by the Boards of Directors of both C-Travel and ezTravel. Closing of the transaction is subject to the customary closing conditions. This alliance will enable both companies to explore potential opportunities in the Great China area in the future.

"We are very excited about advancing our relationship with ezTravel to the next level," said James Liang, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ctrip, "We are positioned to leverage our resources to provide expanded travel products to our customers. This is an important step forward in preparing us for the future growth in the online travel business."

Steve Chen, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ezTravel, commented: "We are very pleased with our past collaboration with Ctrip. We believe we will achieve great synergy through our supplementary customer bases and product offerings."