China's Ctrip.com Issues Corporate Social Responsibility Report

Ctrip.com, a leading online travel service provider in China, has published its 2008 Ctrip.com Corporate Citizenship Report.

In the report, Ctrip.com expatiates on its corporate social responsibility concept as well as its activities as an excellent corporate citizen in China. Ctrip.com has carried out a series of charity and CSR activities in recent years. In 2006, it set up Ctrip.com Sunshine Scholarship which has benefited more than 600 college students from poor families. In September 2008, Ctrip's first Project Hope school was launched in Yunnan province. It also arranged activities after the May 12, 2008, Sichuan earthquake in the hope of raising more attention and facilitating the reconstruction of the earthquake-hit areas.

Caring for global warming and launching a carbon offset service are highlights of Ctrip's corporate citizenship development in 2008. To reduce the greenhouse effect caused by the emission of carbon dioxide, in September 2008, Ctrip.com took a proactive role in launching a carbon offset program in China by cooperating with Shanghai's Roots & Shoots organization, an offshoot of the Jane Goodall Institute.

Ctrip.com was also concerned with the development of its employees. Besides establishing Ctrip University and launching the Ctrip MBA program, it also introduced an employee assistance program, inviting third-party professionals to offer guidance to employees on such issues as pressure management, mental health and career development.

However, the company has resorted to a bit of greenwashing in its report as it proclaims that its business model is itself a border-line social enterprise. As a leading Internet travel service provider, Ctrip.com says it put forward a revolutionary idea by making it possible for consumers to book travel products without leaving their home. Ostensibly, this proclamation is perhaps based on the idea that while consumers need only use their computers to book tickets online, they are not outside driving gas-hungry cars.

Min Fan, CEO of Ctrip.com, told local media that it has been the company's goal to become an excellent corporate citizen and the company will invest more on the construction of corporate citizenship to push its social development in the future.

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