Hotel, mobile bookings boost Ctrip in 2013
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Ctrip International has posted a strong rise in profits for 2013, as mobile and hotel bookings boosted China’s biggest online travel company.
The Shanghai-based company generated net profits of CNY261 million (US$43m) last year, 36% more than in 2012, as revenues surged. And Ctrip’s chairman & CEO, James Liang, said he was pleased with the company’s “strong performance”.
“The accelerated growth across all business lines reflected Ctrip’s strong execution of our market share gain strategy,” said Liang. “The investment that Ctrip has made in leisure travel products, price competitiveness, open-platform, and mobile internet has significantly enhanced our leadership in the online and mobile travel markets.”
The company’s total revenues increased 30% in 2013, to CNY5.7 billion. This result was driven by a 37% jump in hotel reservation revenues, to CNY2.2bn. This put the hotel side of the business on a par with Ctrip’s ticketing services last year, with both segments contributing approximately 38% of the company’s total annual turnover.
Package tour revenues climbed 36% to CNY936m while corporate travel increased 34% to CNY267m.
Ctrip also incurred higher costs in 2013, with product development expenses rising 37% to CNY1.2bn. And much of development is being concentrated in the mobile sector. Ctrip noted that downloads of its mobile app recently reached 100m, and that approximately 50% of hotel and 30% of air transactions were booked through mobile channels “during peak days”.
“We are encouraged by the results and will continue our investments in branding, promotions and new businesses in 2014,” Liang concluded.
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