Online travel market

    CHINA’S quarterly online travel market exceeded 100 billion yuan (US$16.1 billion) for the first time in the second quarter of the year, boosted by a travel boom and more use of smartphones.

    Revenue for the online travel market reached 106.2 billion yuan between April and June, up 12 percent quarter on quarter and 56.7 percent year on year, Internet research agency Analysys International said in a research report Tuesday.

    In the first half of the year, 2.02 billion tourist trips were made in China, up 9.9 percent year on year. Meanwhile, Chinese nationals made 61.9 million overseas trips, according to the China National Tourism Administration.

    Alibaba president

    ALIBABA Group Holding Ltd. has hired former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. partner Michael Evans to oversee the e-commerce company’s international expansion, a top priority as the firm looks beyond China to sustain its heady growth rates.

    Evans, who spent two decades at the investment bank in positions including vice chairman and head of Asia, has occupied a board seat at Alibaba since mid-2014, before the company held a record-setting public listing in New York.

    Alibaba, by far the largest e-commerce player in China, said hiring Evans signaled its intention to ramp up cross-border commerce in earnest after it spent years focusing on securing its domestic market position.

    Land Rover recall

    JAGUAR Land Rover China will recall 19,943 faulty automobiles on the Chinese mainland because of problems with the brakes and lights, said the country’s top quality supervisor.

    One or both front brake hoses of the affected vehicles could rupture, causing the loss of brake fluid, which may lead to brake failure and light problems, said the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

    The recall, which started yesterday, involves vehicles manufactured from March 2005 through July 2012.