Ctrip's international OTA platform sees an 80% increase in revenue, with inbound tourism more than quadrupling.
On May 21, Ctrip Group (9961:HK; TCOM:NASDAQ) announced its unaudited financial performance for the first quarter of 2024.
In the first quarter, Ctrip achieved a net revenue of CNY 11.9 billion, a 29% increase year-over-year. Specifically, accommodation booking business revenue was CNY 4.5 billion, a 29% increase year-over-year; transportation ticketing business revenue was CNY 5 billion, a 20% increase year-over-year; tourism and vacation business revenue was CNY 883 million, a 129% increase year-over-year; and corporate travel management business revenue was CNY 511 million, a 15% increase year-over-year.
During this period, the domestic tourism market showed strong growth momentum, with Ctrip's domestic hotel and flight bookings both increasing by more than 20% year-over-year. At the same time, as the outbound tourism market recovers, Ctrip's outbound hotel and flight bookings have both grown by more than 100% year-over-year.
As consumers increasingly pursue travel quality, experience, and emotional satisfaction, especially among the younger generation of tourists, they are more inclined to seek personalized and high-quality travel experiences. On Ctrip's platform, users born after 1990 now account for 55%, and they prefer to combine entertainment activities with travel exploration for immersive experiences. During the reporting period, Ctrip has increased innovation in travel products for the younger user group, launching more package products such as "concerts + hotel accommodation" to enhance the attractiveness to young users.
Meanwhile, as the travel needs of the "silver-haired" population continue to grow, this group is gradually becoming a key segment of the tourism market. Ctrip's "silver-haired" user proportion has reached 10%. To seize this new market opportunity, Ctrip launched the "Ctrip Old Friends Club" brand and introduced more than 700 exclusive products designed for the silver-haired population, covering more than 40 popular destinations nationwide. Ctrip looks forward to collaborating with more partners in the future to develop travel products that cater to the preferences of the silver-haired population, bringing new vitality to the domestic tourism market.
Furthermore, leveraging the advantages of its international OTA platform, Trip.com, Ctrip continues to innovate in inbound tourism products and services. Currently, Trip.com has launched online reservation functions for more than 600 top domestic scenic spots and provides more than 20 languages and payment methods to enhance the booking experience for foreign tourists. In the first quarter of 2024, Ctrip's inbound tourism bookings grew more than fourfold year-over-year, and Trip.com's total revenue increased by about 80% year-over-year.
In April of this year, Ctrip launched an innovative initiative - "Free Half-Day Inbound Tour", offering free city sightseeing services to international travelers with layovers of more than 8 hours at Shanghai Pudong International Airport. Ctrip's private car service has also joined Trip.com, equipped with drivers who can communicate in English, and provides self-operated quality services such as "unlimited free waiting" and "all-inclusive pricing" for foreign tourists.
With the continuous optimization of the entire inbound tourism experience, Ctrip is committed to telling Chinese stories and attracting more foreign tourists to China, bringing new growth points to the tourism market.
The lower-tier market has become a highlight of the tourism market in the first quarter of 2024. Ctrip has strengthened cooperation with county-level destinations and third- and fourth-tier cities, helping these areas optimize tourism supply and expand brand influence. Ctrip has cooperated with the cultural and tourism departments of Guizhou Rongjiang, Taijiang, Jiangsu Kunshan, and other places in Jiangxi, helping the lower-tier market to improve the quality of tourism supply through hotel training, investment attraction, and integrated marketing, building a modern tourism system, and helping local areas convert traffic into "stay volume."
Ctrip also continues to support rural revitalization and low-carbon travel. By the end of the first quarter of 2024, 29 Ctrip vacation farms have been established in 13 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government), driving employment in related industries for more than 20,000 people, with more than 80% of employees being local, and driving an increase in rural per capita annual income of more than CNY 40,000. Since the launch of Ctrip's low-carbon hotel standard at the end of October 2023, by the end of the first quarter of 2024, more than 2,000 hotels have been selected, and more than 3 million people have booked low-carbon hotels, reducing carbon emissions by more than 27.5 million tons. On March 11, Ctrip also launched a "Popular Filter" label, supporting users to filter all low-carbon hotels at the destination with one click, providing more exposure opportunities for low-carbon hotels, and encouraging more users to choose low-carbon hotels. In March, the search volume for low-carbon hotels on Ctrip's platform increased by 110% compared to February.