On May 21st, Ctrip Group (NASDAQ: TCOM; Hong Kong Stock Exchange: 9961) announced its unaudited financial performance for the first quarter of 2024. In the first quarter, Ctrip achieved steady growth in various businesses, with a net revenue of 11.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 29%; The growth rate of international business is significant, with the total revenue of Ctrip's international OTA platform Trip.com increasing by about 80% year-on-year.
In the first quarter, Ctrip's accommodation booking revenue was 4.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 29%; The operating revenue of transportation ticketing was 5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20%; The operating revenue of tourism and vacation business was 883 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 129%; The operating revenue of business travel management business was 511 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15%.
"At the beginning of 2024, driven by more stable supply and further relaxation of visa requirements, the demand for domestic and outbound tourism in China has significantly increased." Liang Jianzhang, co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ctrip Group, said, "In addition, thanks to our continuously improving products, our global business has grown strongly. We are committed to investing in product and technological innovation to provide users with an excellent travel experience."
In the first quarter, the government and society continued to attach importance to the tourism industry, and many provinces increased their market promotion efforts. The domestic tourism market continued to maintain strong growth, driving Ctrip's domestic hotel and flight bookings to increase by over 20% year-on-year. Meanwhile, outbound tourism has become an important driving force in the tourism market in 2024. In the first quarter, Ctrip's outbound hotel and flight booking both increased by over 100% year-on-year.
In the first quarter, Ctrip leveraged the advantages of the international OTA platform Trip.com to innovate inbound tourism products and services. At present, Trip.com has launched online reservation functions for over 600 top domestic scenic spots and offers payment methods in over 20 languages to enhance the booking experience for overseas tourists. In the first quarter, Ctrip's inbound travel bookings increased by more than four times year-on-year, and Trip.com's total revenue increased by about 80% year-on-year.
In the first quarter, Ctrip took multiple measures to support high-quality growth of partners such as airlines, hotels, and travel agencies, and continued to prosper the tourism ecosystem. At present, Ctrip has cooperated with multiple small and medium-sized airports such as Guilin, Hanzhong, Yulin, and Luoyang to integrate flight experience and destination cultural and tourism products, attract more tourists to choose small and medium-sized airports as tourism departure or destination, and help improve the throughput and cultural and tourism consumption power of small and medium-sized airports. Ctrip's charter car tour business provides new driver merchants with training and traffic support, and assists in formulating business strategies. In the first quarter, Ctrip's charter car travel business revenue increased by 128% year-on-year, bringing business growth to more businesses.
Ctrip has increased its cooperation with county-level destinations and third - and fourth tier cities, helping to optimize tourism supply in the lower tier market and expand brand reputation. In the first quarter, Ctrip collaborated with cultural and tourism departments in counties such as Rongjiang and Taijiang in Guizhou, Kunshan in Jiangsu, and Jiangxi. Through hotel training, investment promotion, and integrated marketing, Ctrip helped to improve the quality of tourism supply in the lower tier markets, build a modern tourism system, and help local areas turn traffic into "retention".
Ctrip is continuously supporting rural revitalization and low-carbon travel. As of the end of the first quarter, 29 Ctrip vacation farms have landed in 13 provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central government), driving over 20000 people to find employment in related industries, with over 80% of employees being local people, and driving an increase in rural per capita annual income of over 40000 yuan. Since the launch of Ctrip's low-carbon hotel standards at the end of October last year, over 2000 hotels have been selected, with over 3 million bookings of low-carbon hotels, resulting in a cumulative reduction of over 27.5 million tons of carbon emissions. On March 11th, Ctrip also launched the "Popular Selection" tag, which supports one click filtering of all low-carbon hotels in the destination, bringing more exposure to low-carbon hotels and motivating more users to choose low-carbon hotels. In March, the search volume for low-carbon hotels on the Ctrip platform increased by 110% compared to February.
"We are pleased to see that the performance in the first quarter has demonstrated the resilience of the tourism market and the strong execution power of our team," said Sun Jie, CEO of Ctrip Group. "We recognize the importance of creating a sustainable future and are committed to working with our partners to create more job opportunities and promote the development of the tourism industry, creating greater value for stakeholders."
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