"Overall, the Chinese domestic travel market has been encouraging, and we see great potential in international markets," said James Liang, Executive Chairman at the one-stop travel service provider.
The firm released its financial results for the second quarter of 2021 on September 24, 2021.
Total net revenue increased by 86% year over year and 43% quarter over quarter, driven by the strong recovery momentum of the China domestic market.
"Both our domestic hotel and air-ticket GMV increased by about 150% year over year. Compared with the same pre-COVID period in 2019, both domestic hotel and air ticketing reservations achieved double-digit growth in the second quarter," stated the company.
Staycation travel continues to serve as a major driver of domestic recovery with local hotel reservations growing nearly 80% versus the pre-COVID period in 2019.
Revenues from corporate travel management grew 141% year over year and 26% compared with the pre-COVID period in 2019.
"Throughout the second quarter, we continued to focus on the domestic market in terms of the supply chain, content capabilities, service quality, and technology advancement, to lay a solid foundation for new growth drivers beyond the pandemic," said Jane Sun, Chief Executive Officer. "We also endeavor to maximize our social impacts while increasing the Company's total value. We will keep improving as we strive towards our ideals."
The firm's overall results for Q2 2021 were negatively impacted by the COVID-19 crisis, as well as subsequent outbreaks driven by new variants of COVID-19. However, benefiting from the general containment of the COVID-19 pandemic in China, the company’s domestic business has continued to show a strong recovery, which has contributed substantially to all of its total revenue.
Net revenue was CNY 5.9 billion, an increase of 86% from the same period in 2020, primarily due to the strong recovery of China's domestic market.
Gross margin was 79% for the second quarter of 2021, which increased from 72% for the same period in 2020 and 75% for the previous quarter.
Product development expenses for the second quarter of 2021 increased by 24% to CNY 2.2 billion from the same period in 2020.
Sales and marketing expenses for the second quarter of 2021 increased by 112% to CNY 1.4 billion from the same period in 2020 and increased by 47% from the previous quarter.
Net losses attributable to Trip.com Group's shareholders for the second quarter of 2021 was CNY 647 million, compared to net losses attributable to Trip.com Group's shareholders of CNY 476 million in the same period in 2020.