In 2023, the performance of domestic hotels experienced a surge due to the backlog of demand. Entering 2024, rational consumption is gradually returning.
After reviewing the recently released data on tourism and hotel listed companies, First Financial reporters found that the RevPAR (average room rental revenue) of the hotel industry has fluctuated compared to last year. However, due to the holiday economy and cross-border tourism in the first quarter, the overall revenue of most tourism and hotel companies has significantly increased.
Chain hotels continue to expand, with great business opportunities in the sinking market
According to the recently released financial report for the first quarter of 2024 by ATAT. NASDAQ, the group achieved a revenue of 1.468 billion yuan in the first quarter, a year-on-year increase of 89.7%; The adjusted net profit was 261 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 63.4%; The adjusted EBITDA was RMB 354 million, a year-on-year increase of 53.1%.
In the first quarter of this year, there was a differentiation in the overall market demand for travel. In the first quarter of 2024, the RevPAR of Yaduo Group hotels was 328 yuan; The average daily housing price (ADR) is 430 yuan; The occupancy rate (OCC) reached 73.3%. With the orderly promotion of "Two Thousand Good Stores", the hotel network has achieved stable expansion and high-quality growth. In the first quarter of this year, Yaduo Group opened a total of 97 new hotels. As of the end of the first quarter of this year, the number of hotels operated by Yaduo Group reached 1302, with 148149 hotel rooms, a year-on-year increase of 34.5% and 31.6%, respectively; The number of pipeline projects has reached 674.
The three core operational indicators of Huazhu Group (HTHT. NASDAQ, 01179. HK) rose simultaneously in the first quarter of this year. Huazhu China's mixed RevPAR was 216 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.1%; The daily average housing price (ADR) is 280 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1%; The occupancy rate (OCC) was 77.2%, an increase of 1.6 percentage points year-on-year. As of the end of the first quarter, the number of hotels worldwide at Huazhu has increased to 9817, an increase of 75% compared to 2019, and there are 3172 waiting to be opened, maintaining a fast and stable pace of expansion.
Zou Jun, Chief Financial Officer of Huazhu Group, stated that the total number of rooms in the first quarter of 2024 increased by 17% year-on-year, with a year-on-year increase of 21% in revenue to 19.7 billion yuan. The group's revenue increased by 18% year-on-year to 5.3 billion yuan, exceeding the previous guidance, with a net profit of 659 million yuan in the first quarter.
The reporter from First Financial learned in an interview that according to the regular 5-8 year update cycle, many existing hotels that have opened in the past decade have reached the years that need to be updated and renovated. Operators are constantly exploring sinking and blank markets. Moreover, with the rise of tourism destinations such as Zibo, Tianshui, and Altay, the construction and development of hotels in sinking markets have ushered in business opportunities.
Dongwu Securities recently released a research report stating that the overall supply and demand relationship of the domestic hotel industry in 2024 will not experience a significant decline compared to 2023, and it is expected that the growth rate on the demand side will be in the range of 5% to 10%.
International business growth increases OTA profits
"Due to the rapid recovery of outbound and inbound tourism businesses in the first quarter of this year, as well as a series of positive factors such as the expansion of visa free" Moments ", the resumption of international flights, and the restart of international cruise ships, we have seen that most of the online travel agencies (OTAs) that have recently released financial reports have achieved revenue growth and good profit performance in the first quarter of this year. It should be said that the driving force of international business has significantly helped these companies to improve their performance in the first quarter." Analysis by Zhao Huanyan, a senior economist who has been engaged in and researching the tourism industry for a long time.
In the first quarter of 2024, Ctrip Group's revenue was 11.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 29%. Among them, accommodation booking and transportation ticketing are the top revenue drivers, with the former generating revenue of 4.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 29%; The latter's revenue was 5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20%. The net profit in the first quarter was 4.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 26%. Driven by more stable supply and further relaxation of visa requirements, the demand for cross-border tourism increased significantly in the first quarter. Ctrip's outbound hotel and flight booking both increased by over 100% year-on-year. Ctrip's inbound travel booking has increased by more than four times year-on-year, and the total revenue of Ctrip's international OTA platform Trip.com has increased by about 80% year-on-year.
Tongcheng Travel (0780. HK) recently released its Q1 2024 performance report, which showed that the company achieved revenue of 3.866 billion yuan in the first quarter, a year-on-year increase of 49.5%; After adjustment, the net profit was 558 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.9%. As of the end of the first quarter of 2024, the annual service volume of Tongcheng Travel reached 1.827 billion, a year-on-year increase of 57.4%; The number of annual expense paying households reached 229 million, a year-on-year increase of 14.3%. The user scale and user value have both significantly increased.
It is worth noting that in the first quarter of 2024, the international air ticket volume for same journey travel increased by over 260% year-on-year, and the international hotel room night volume increased by over 150% year-on-year. Benefiting from the large-scale growth of advertising and hotel management businesses, other revenue segments of Tongcheng Travel (including advertising, membership, hotel management businesses, etc.) increased by 36% year-on-year to 502 million yuan.
According to the 2024 Q1 performance report released by TOUR. NASDAQ, Tuniu's net revenue in the first quarter was 108 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 70.9%; The revenue from packaged tourism products was 83 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 106.7%; Non US accounting standard net profit of 27.7 million yuan. As of the first quarter of 2024, Tuniu achieved non US accounting standard profits for four consecutive quarters.
According to data from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, in the first quarter of this year, 1.419 billion people traveled domestically, a year-on-year increase of 16.7%; The total cost of domestic tourists traveling was 1.52 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17.0%. The better year-on-year data in the first quarter is related to the initial recovery of the tourism market at that time, with a relatively low base.
The China Tourism Research Institute holds a positive and optimistic attitude towards the domestic tourism economy in 2024. It is expected that the number of domestic tourism trips and domestic tourism revenue will exceed 6 billion and 6 trillion yuan respectively for the whole year, and the number of inbound and outbound tourists and international tourism revenue will also exceed 260 million and 107 billion US dollars respectively.
Summer tourism is coming one after another. In the summer of 2023, the number of tourists received by most destinations in China reached a historic high. Compared to 2019, hotel bookings increased by 1.4 times and occupancy rates significantly increased. The industry expects that new tourism formats such as "study tours", "parent-child tours", and "night tours" during this summer are expected to become new engines driving tourism consumption and injecting new impetus into the hotel industry. At that time, the peak summer tourist travel will continue to help hotels and tourism enterprises increase their profits.