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News Release

April 27, 2006
Pacific Travel & Trade Corp. Joins the Shinning China Travel Star

This is a big event in the U.S.-China travel industry. The number one travel group in China and one of the top U.S. consolidators are joining forces.

Rapid changes in today’s market environment have resulted in instant mergers and acquisitions in the travel industry and among the U.S. companies. Unlike the mergers and acquisitionists, the China Travel Service Group (Holdings) Hong Kong, Limited and the Pacific Travel & Trade Corp. USA have announced a joint venture in U.S. China Travel Service, Inc. There is no doubt that this significant move is very meaningful to tomorrow’s travel and tourist exchanges between U.S. and China.

Who and Who

China Travel Service (USA), Inc. is the U.S. subsidiary of the China travel giant, China Travel Service Group (Holdings) Hong Kong Ltd. that has been operating for over 70 years since 1928. It is the first Chinese owned travel business in China. The Group has now over 20 offices in 14 countries, apart from the wide network covering all the major cities in the Chinese mainland. Its U.S. subsidiary, U.S. China Travel Service has been operating for over 20 years in the U.S. market, enjoying a very good reputation in the agent community as “China Specialist” for its quality services and value added tour products.

Pacific Travel & Trade Corp. (dba: Grand Holidays and Pacific Air Travel) is a U.S. entity incorporated in California in 1982. It is headquartered in South San Francisco with nationwide offices in the whole of North America. The company engages mainly in air consolidating business and operation of tours to China and other destinations. It is now one of the top consolidators in the U.S. Being in the business for more than 20 years; the company has sound expertise in the management of travel business in the U.S. market.

The two companies have announced their joint-venture in U.S. China Travel Service, Inc. the former U.S. subsidiary of China Travel Service Group (Holdings) Hong Kong Ltd. Both companies will put their abundant resources together to tap in a larger scale both the U.S. and China market with inbound and outbound tours, business travel and corporate events.

U.S. and China Market Potentials

United States is still one of the world’s largest tourist generating countries for China and Hong Kong, and is also attracting more and more Chinese people from all around the greater China regions. According to statistics from the China National Tourism Administration, tourists from the United States in 2005 have surpassed 1.5 million, hence becoming the largest long-haul tourist source country for China. For U.S. inbound from China, though U.S. is not officially designated as one of China’s approved destinations for the Chinese mainlanders, Chinese business travel to the U.S. has never interrupted in all these years with an approximately over 400,000 Chinese people traveling to the U.S. each year for business, leisure and visiting relatives, some source estimated.

Chinese Outbound Market

The U.S. and Chinese government have signed a memorandum in 2005 on the mutual understandings between the two governments about designating U.S. as one of the tourist destinations for the mainland Chinese people, and both the governments have been making efforts toward this orientation.

According to the Chinese publications, Chinese outbound traffic has surpassed 20 million in 2004. Most of the visitors choose to visit their surrounding countries and regions because of easy access. Many countries have realized the size of the tourist market in China. They have set up their tourist offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou to increase their shares of this big cake in China. Along with Europe open its doors to the Chinese tourists, more and more Chinese people start to travel to European countries where they find more choices of travel with richer and more diversified tour itineraries.

But, according to some China’s outbound tour operators, Chinese people still likes to travel to the U.S. if the visa issue could be resolved. The fact that China has a population of 13 billion made the country the largest potential market for outbound travel. One can just imagine that if only 1% travel to the U.S. that would make 13 million tourists. No wonder why Mr. Bob Whitley, CEO of the United States Tour Operators Association ( USTOA) reminded its members that they could not afford not to pay attention to the Chinese inbound business.

According to Mr. Shao Qiwei, the new Director of China National Tourism Administration, the Chinese annual GDP per capita has been increase to US$1700 and in the major Chinese cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong Province; it has reached US$ 2,000-3,000. According to international standard, when annual GDP per capita exceeds UA$1,000, there would be the need for travel. Along with the rapid growth of Chinese economy, the Chinese GDP will definitely increase and China is becoming a huge source market for the travel business in the world.

Get Prepared

Market is always for those who get prepared. Yimei Guo, the General Manager of the newly joint-ventured company, China Travel Service (USA) Inc. sees that “so far the United States and China develop their economic relationship; the mutual tourist exchanges would steadily grow and improve.” It is right out of this shared insight by the two share holders, both decided to join forces with joint investment and shared resources to get well prepared to welcome the growing business volumes from U.S. to China and from China to the U.S. “Besides, the 2008 c Games will be held in Beijing and some neighboring cities, as one of the major travel companies in China, we believe that we will definitely have our role to play and we need to get prepared for that, too” said Mrs. Guo.

Reinforced Management Team

"The management team of the company is greatly reinforced after the joint venture” according to Yimei Guo, “All of our managers are veterans of the travel trade”. Tony Wong, the director, is the founder of Pacific Travel & Trade Corp. He has personally operating the travel business for over 20 years in the U.S. and enjoys very good reputation for his honesty and capability. Yimei Guo, the general manager who worked for the Chinese brand names for over 20 years, joined CTSHK since 1994. She was the deputy general manager of their Hong Kong office being in charge of all the inbound and outbound tour businesses, and then was sent to Beijing to establish the first full venture company by the Hong Kong Headquarter with a total investment of over US$20 million. The newly established company soon came to the top 10 travel businesses in Beijing in only 3 years. She has a wide and sound relationship in the tourism circle in both Hong Kong and China. Wilson Wong, the present CEO of Pacific Air Travel, is now serving also as the Deputy General Manager of this joint venture. He started his career in the travel industry since 1985 with only a few airline contracts. Now he is managing one of the top Air Consolidators in the U.S., holding more than 20 major airline contracts to various destinations of Asia. His extensive experience in ticketing and packaging tours for both inbound and outbound will serve as a momentum for the growth of the company. Christina Liadis, the Outbound Manager, joined USCTS in 1999. She has been operating tours to China and the Far East for over 15 years and is known by our travel agent partners for her destination knowledge and attention to detail. Sam Dong is the inbound manager who was on the senior management position in Chinese tourism organizations before his immigration to the U.S. He has been operating tours from China for over 10 years in the United States. Tapping the MICE market is a tough job and Cindy Fang has been chosen the manager. She is one of the few experienced young managers who is extremely familiar with the destinations, venues in China and also the destination management. Teresa Ou-young, the Sales and Marketing Director who received her education in the U.S., has been working in the hospitality industry for over 25 years. Her extensive working experience with one of the major U.S. tour operators together with her senior management positions in sales and marketing with one of the major hotel chains further expended her knowledge on China. She is not only familiar with Chinese tourist destinations but also had connections to obtain competitive rates from various hotel chains in China. “The present USCTS management team is our core asset to our success.” said Guo.

Diversified Products for Market Needs

U.S. China Travel Service (USA), Inc. operates regular departure tours to China and other Asian destinations as well. They are also well known for customized tours. “The market is changing and more and more people do not seek low prices anymore but family intimacy and the quality of their trips” said Yimei Guo, “ As China specialist, it is our advantage in customizing and creating all kind of tours for our U.S. agent customers to meet their cliental needs”.

Apart from leisure travel, U.S. China Travel Service is the only travel company appointed by both the Canton Trade Fair and Shanghai Trade Fair in making travel arrangements, hotel reservation with blocked rooms and admission ticket arrangement in the U.S. “We will create more Trade Fair packages for our agent partners to convenience their clients” Said Wilson, who is extremely experienced in packaging Air and Hotel products.

The company has also a special MICE department aiming to help the U.S. customers to plan all kinds of event in China. “ Our services include making initial proposals, site inspection assistances, air and land arrangements and visa, it is like a one stop shop that saved a lot of time and energy of our clients in the U.S. market” according to Mrs. Guo.

The Impact for Travel Agents

The new joint-venture company will still keep the name as U.S. China Travel Service, Inc. (dba: China Travel Service ( USA ) Inc.) The company will utilize all the existing resources from both share holders to tap the two markets. “CTSHK has a wide network of over 80 offices in the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong. These office locations will not only serve as our brand name land operators providing services to our U.S. customers but also as our widely stretched sales forces in those places tapping the Chinese outbound market to the U.S.” said, Yimei Guo , the USCTS general manager.

The company is also optimistic about the strong support from Pacific Air Travel. Wilson Wong, who is the CEO of Pacific Air Travel and is also the new Deputy General Manager of USCTS said that they have very good and long term working relationships with all major airlines to Asia Pacific and China. With all these resources, there is no doubt that the new joint-ventured USCTS will be able to provide more value added products to its U.S. consumers through their agent partners who have foreseen the great potentials and ready to do business to China and the whole of Asia.

To celebrate this significant event of USCTS’s joint venture and also as a return to the many travel agent partners and their consumers for their support, the company has created some Joint-Venture Specials from June through to October, 2006 with selective departures and the best prices possible. The 8 days/6nights Golden China Tour is only from $999 from major West coast cities and the tour covers Beijing, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Shanghai. People can also choose to stay 5 nights in any combination of 2 cities from choice of Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong from only $999 departing from the major West coast cities. For more information, please contact China Travel Service (USA), Inc. at: 1-800-603-3930 or email to: info@chinatravelservice.com

Related Information:

China Travel Service Group (Holdings) Hong Kong Ltd (CTSHK Group). is the largest Travel Group with the longest legendary history in China. Since the company's founding in 1928, CTSHK has grown from a small local travel agency into one of the nation's 52 key enterprises under the direct supervision of the central government. Its core businesses cover mainly four categories: tourism, industrial investment, real estate development and trade & logistics.

Within the tourism industry, CTSHK Group has integrated its substantial resources to have created its flagship "China Travel International Investment Hong Kong Limited" (CTII) to further develop its travel and tourism business. This flagship has been listed in Hong Kong Stock Exchange since 1992 with CTSHK Group as the major share holder. The company has successfully invested in many tourism related projects, such as theme parks, Resorts, Hotels, Golf courses, Transportations, etc. At present, CTSHK Group is building into an optimally structured and internationally competitive travel group with over 80 offices in the Chinese cities including Hong Kong, and 20 offices in 14 countries in the world.

Pacific Travel & Trade Corp. is a U.S. entity incorporated in California in the U.S. (dba: Grand Holidays and Pacific Air and Travel). The company was established in 1982. The past two decades of solid experience has formed the foundation of their unique and extensive services in the travel business. It is now one of the top U.S. air consolidators and tour operators with a sound management and steady growth of businesses in the U.S.

The company has an in house IT department developing internal IT infrastructures to enhance effectively its travel business. Its advantage lies not only in the good relationships with all the major airlines in the U.S. but also strong IT support and sound business management in the U.S. environment.

U.S. China Travel Service, Inc. is the U.S. based subsidiary of CTII established in California in 1983. It is now one of the few Chinese Tour Operators in the U.S. market specialized on China. Its business covers both inbound and outbound package tours, Hotel and air ticket reservations, Meetings, Incentive, Exhibitions arrangement to and from China. USCTS is an active member of the U.S. Tour Operators Association (USTOA) and a member of American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) engaged in its Top Tour Operator Program.