As the global tourism market rebounds, Tongcheng Travel is accelerating its business expansion overseas.
Recently, Tongcheng Travel's first overseas physical store officially opened in Los Angeles. Representatives from airlines such as Air China, China Airlines, and Cathay Pacific, as well as invited members of the press, attended the opening ceremony. Ms. Gong Xiaolei, Assistant Vice President and CEO of the International Air Ticket Business Unit of Tongcheng Travel, attended the ceremony and delivered a speech.
Tongcheng Travel was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Suzhou, China. It is a leading online leisure travel service provider in China. Its rapid growth and innovative business model have garnered strong support from the market, attracting investments totaling hundreds of millions of yuan. On March 19, Tongcheng Travel announced its full-year performance for 2023. The data shows that Tongcheng Travel's total revenue in 2023 was approximately 11.896 billion yuan, an 80.7% year-on-year increase; adjusted net profit was about 2.199 billion yuan, a 240.3% year-on-year increase; and the number of annual paying users was 235 million or so, a 25.2% year-on-year increase, marking a 54% increase from 2019 and reaching a new historical high.
As the global tourism industry steadily recovers, Tongcheng Travel's revenue is gradually rebounding. Against this backdrop, the company is accelerating its expansion into overseas markets. The opening of the Los Angeles physical store marks its first offline service station overseas, aiming to provide users with one-stop travel services through a combination of online and offline channels, including flight booking, hotel reservation, vacation booking, and visa processing. Tongcheng Travel also revealed that the company will soon launch a localized app called "WatsTravel" to provide booking services for flights and hotels so as to better expand into the North American market.
According to relevant data, as of February 2024, the overall recovery rate of the US civil aviation market reached 108%, higher than the global market average. The recovery rate for the domestic market in the United States is 108%, and the recovery rate for international routes is 110%. Gong Xiaolei, Assistant Vice President and CEO of the International Air Ticket Business Unit of Tongcheng Travel, is confident in the prospects of the North American international travel market. She stated that with the rapid recovery of flights between China and the United States, Tongcheng Travel's North American business will also benefit.
Currently, Tongcheng Travel has established its overseas headquarters office in Singapore. In the future, the company will expedite its expansion into markets such as the United Kingdom, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Canada, actively developing international air tickets, international hotels, outbound vacations, and other businesses.