This aerial photo taken on Nov. 19, 2023 shows tourists and local residents taking part in the long street banquet as performers passing by during a cultural tourism festival in Luchun County of Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Yunnan Province. The long street banquet, a time-honoured tradition of Hani ethnic group in China, was held here during a cultural tourism festival on Sunday. (Photo: Xinhua)

Chinese listed tourism companies have published their third-quarter financial reports. With the strong recovery of the travel business post-pandemic, these enterprises have experienced a sharp rise in earnings, with the majority reporting strong performance in both revenue and net profit.

Online tourism agency Trip.com Group reported a net operating income of 13.7 billion yuan ($1.92 billion) in the third quarter, marking a year-on-year growth of 99 percent, according to a statement released by the company on Tuesday.

The peak summer tourism season has led to a continuous growth in travel bookings. In the third quarter, Trip.com achieved accommodation booking revenue of 5.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 92 percent, and transportation ticketing revenue reached 5.4 billion yuan, marking an impressive 105 percent year-on-year growth.

“Thanks to robust summer travel demand, both domestic and international travel showed strong growth momentum in the third quarter, reflecting travelers’ eagerness to explore the world,” Liang Jianzhang, chairman and cofounder of Trip.com, said in the statement.

Another travel agency U-tour achieved operating income of 1.26 billion yuan, representing a remarkable year-on-year growth of 748.28 percent. Driven by the strong performance in the third quarter, U-tour also achieved profitability for the first three quarters of the year.

In terms of revenue, three listed cultural tourism companies whose main business includes travel agencies, namely China CYTS Tours Holding Co (CYTS), U-tour, and Guangzhou Lingnan Group, achieved revenues of 2.556 billion yuan, 1.261 billion yuan, and 1.234 billion yuan, respectively. All three companies surpassed the 1-billion-yuan mark in revenue, according to media reports.

According to data from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the total number of domestic tourist visits during the first three quarters of 2023 reached 3.674 billion, an increase of 1.58 billion compared to the same period last year, representing a year-on-year growth of 75.5 percent.

In terms of expenditure, total spending by residents on domestic travel reached 3.69 trillion yuan in the first three quarters, an increase of 1.97 trillion yuan compared to the previous year, representing a year-on-year growth of 114.4 percent.

Multiple provinces and cities have reported strong market performance for the same period. Northwest China’s Gansu Province announced that total number of visitor trips it received reached 303 million from January to September, with preliminary estimated tourism revenue hitting 191 billion yuan. This represents growth rates of 161 percent and 234.5 percent, respectively, compared to the same period last year.

The cultural and related industries in Southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality achieved an added value of 85.11 billion yuan in the first nine months, up 6.6 percent year-on-year. Meanwhile, tourism and related industries saw an added value of 85.61 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 11.4 percent, data from local government revealed. 

In the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the passenger volume at the airports is expected to recover to about 80 percent of pre-pandemic levels this year, with full recovery anticipated next year, Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po, said at the Asian Logistics, Maritime and Aviation Conference 2023 on Tuesday.

While the summer peak season has passed, with falling temperatures and more snow in North China, peak season for winter tourism in some Chinese cities has arrived. Winter tourism will likely help boost local economies and aid their development, industry players said.

Global Times