IAC/InterActiveCorp, which runs such travel Web sites as Expedia and Hotels.com, will enter the expanding Chinese market by acquiring a 30 percent interest in eLong Inc., a Beijing-based travel Web site company, for $60 million.

IAC, headed by chief executive Barry Diller, said Monday it would also acquire warrants that could increase the company's ownership of eLong to 51 percent. Through two Web sites — one in English, the other in Chinese — and a telephone call center, eLong offers more than 2,000 hotel rooms at discounted rates across China. The company, formed in 1999, also offers airline ticketing and other travel-related services.

IAC, based in New York, also announced the creation of IAC Travel-Asia Pacific and the promotion of Barney Harford to head the division. China is the most exciting and dramatic travel market in the world," Harford said.

China represents an $87 billion travel and tourism market today, which is expected to grow to more than $300 billion by 2014, according to IAC, quoting estimates from the World Travel and Tourism Council. IAC said eLong would continue to operate independently and retain its current management and employees.