SHANGHAI, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Trip.com Group Limited, China's largest online travel agency, reported robust growth in gross merchandise volume and revenue in 2019.
Gross merchandise volume rose to 865 billion yuan (about 122.4 billion U.S. dollars) last year, up 19 percent from 2018, the Nasdaq-listed company announced Thursday in its unaudited financial report.
Trip.com saw net revenue increase 15 percent year on year to 35.7 billion yuan in 2019.
The Shanghai-based company maintained expanding international business as the year-on-year revenue growth for hotels (excluding Greater China destinations) reached 51 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019. Meanwhile, the brand Trip.com delivered its 13th consecutive triple-digit growth for international air ticketing volume in Q4.
Its lower-tier markets also reported significant growth as Ctrip's low-star hotel room-nights increased around 50 percent year on year in Q4. By the end of 2019, the company's offline stores reached close to 8,000 in operation and in the pipeline.
However, as a result of the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, Trip.com has lowered its expectations for growth in the first quarter of 2020. The company expects its net revenue to decrease by approximately 45 percent to 50 percent year on year.
"Despite a challenging beginning to 2020, we are confident of the underlying fundamentals of the Chinese economy, and continue to feel excited about the opportunities globally as well," said Liang Jianzhang, co-founder and executive chairman of the company.
Trip.com started a revival plan involving 1 billion yuan for the tourism industry with its partners from home and abroad in early March.
