On February 22, Ctrip Group (hereinafter referred to as "Ctrip") announced its unaudited financial performance for the fourth quarter and full year of 2023.
According to the financial report, in the fourth quarter of 2023, Ctrip achieved a net operating income of 10.325 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 105%; Net profit was 1.342 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 35.48%; The net profit attributable to the parent company was 1.297 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 36.95%. The net operating income for the whole year of 2023 was 44.51 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 122%; Net profit was 10.002 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 631.68%; The net profit attributable to the parent company was 9.918 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 606.91%.
Due to the impact of performance growth, Ctrip's Hong Kong stock price surged today, reaching a historic high. As of the time of publication, Ctrip's stock price has risen by over 6%, with a market value of nearly HKD 230 billion.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the tourism industry is accelerating its recovery in 2023, with significant year-on-year growth in both tourist arrivals and consumption. In 2023, the total cost of domestic tourists traveling was 4.91 trillion yuan, an increase of 2.87 trillion yuan from the previous year and a year-on-year increase of 140.3%. The number of domestic tourists reached 4.891 billion, an increase of 2.361 billion compared to the same period last year and a year-on-year increase of 93.3%. From a quarterly perspective, the number of domestic tourists in the first quarter was 1.216 billion, a year-on-year increase of 46.5%; The number of domestic tourists in the second quarter was 1.168 billion, a year-on-year increase of 86.9%; The number of domestic tourists in the third quarter was 1.29 billion, a year-on-year increase of 101.9%; The number of domestic tourists in the fourth quarter was 1.217 billion, a year-on-year increase of 179.1%.
It is worth noting that in the fourth quarter of last year, with the explosive popularity of "Erbin", northern ice and snow tourism received unprecedented attention, and tourism related topics such as "Southern Little Potatoes" remained highly popular on social media platforms. Benefiting from the competition of ice and snow tourism and cultural tourism in various regions, the tourism market in the fourth quarter of the traditional off-season maintained a high level of heat, with the number of tourists reaching the second place in the year, with a much higher growth rate than the first three quarters.
Ctrip stated in its financial report that the popularity of the tourism market in the fourth quarter also drove the growth of Ctrip's various businesses. In the fourth quarter, Ctrip's business revenue from accommodation booking, transportation ticketing, tourism and vacation, and business travel management was 3.903 billion yuan, 4.106 billion yuan, 704 million yuan, and 634 million yuan, respectively, with year-on-year growth of 131%, 86%, 329%, and 129%.
The "2023 Analysis of China's Tourism Economy Operation and 2024 Development Forecast" released by the China Tourism Research Institute shows that in 2023, the domestic tourism recovery continues to accelerate, and the national tourism market prosperity index remains at a high level. Residents' willingness to travel has remained above 90% in each quarter, with an average of 91.86% throughout the year, an increase of 4.52 percentage points from 2019.
Thanks to the momentum of tourism recovery, Ctrip achieved rapid business growth throughout the year. According to the financial report, Ctrip's net operating revenue in 2023 was 44.562 billion yuan. From the perspective of core business, the revenue from accommodation booking was 17.257 billion yuan, the revenue from transportation ticketing was 18.443 billion yuan, the revenue from tourism and vacation business was 3.14 billion yuan, and the revenue from business and tourism management business was 2.254 billion yuan, with year-on-year growth of 133%, 123%, 294%, and 109%, respectively.
At the same time, with the recovery of international flight capacity, China's outbound tourism began to gradually recover in the second quarter of 2023. In the third quarter, the Bureau of Culture and Tourism released the third batch of list of countries and regions that will resume outbound tourism. National travel agencies and online tourism enterprises will resume the operation of Chinese citizens traveling to relevant countries and regions (the third batch) for outbound team tourism and "air ticket+hotel" business. The number of countries and regions for outbound and group tourism will be expanded from 60 to 138.
The recovery of outbound tourism has also driven the rapid recovery and growth of Ctrip's international business. In the fourth quarter, Ctrip's outbound hotel and flight bookings recovered to over 80% of the same period in 2019, while the international aviation industry's passenger volume recovered to 60%. Ctrip Group's international OTA platform (Trip.com) saw a year-on-year increase of over 70% in total bookings.
In addition, benefiting from the recovery of inbound and outbound tourism, Ctrip's global OTA platform is currently operating in 39 countries and regions in Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Ctrip stated in its financial report that in the future, it will fully leverage its international resources and capabilities to actively promote the development of inbound and outbound tourism.