Ctrip and Baidu launch translation service for Chinese tourists abroad

SHANGHAI — Teaming up with Chinese search engine Baidu, online travel agency Ctrip has launched a new translation service for Chinese tourists abroad.

With the help of Baidu's OCR (optical character recognition) technology, tourists can translate English content into Chinese by taking a picture through the Ctrip app, Ctrip said in a statement.

The service is easier to use and more accurate than inputting characters, it said.

According to a report by the China Tourism Academy and Ctrip, over 62 million Chinese citizens have traveled abroad in the first half of 2017, up five percent year-on-year.

About 58 percent of the tourists are travelling independently and 42 percent are on group tours.

The language barrier is one of the main reasons that tourists choose group tours, said Ctrip. It said more efficient translation services will help more people to travel abroad.