A large number of tourism companies achieved profitability in the first half of the year, and the recovery of tourism drove the source of customers and consumption

After three years of downturn caused by the epidemic, the tourism industry entered an accelerated recovery trend in the first half of 2023, while ushering in a new era of industry development.

After reviewing the performance of tourism listed companies that have already released their semi annual reports, a reporter from First Financial News found that many tourism companies achieved profits in the first half of this year, mainly due to the recovery of the tourism industry in the first half of the year, which drove more customer sources and consumption. Of course, there are also some travel companies that are still losing money, but their losses have narrowed.

According to the Xizang Tourism Semi annual Report, the operating revenue during the reporting period was 90.66 million yuan, an increase of 112.41% over the same period last year, and the net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 2.97 million yuan. Its main business includes tourist attractions, tourism services, and tourism commerce. According to the semi annual report of Lijiang Shares, the operating income during the period was 390 million yuan, an increase of 396.88% compared to the same period last year. The net profit attributable to the shareholders of the listed company was 120 million yuan, an increase of 326.48% compared to the same period last year. The main reason for the increase in operating revenue is that during the reporting period, the tourism market environment improved, and the company seized the opportunity to actively expand the market, resulting in a significant increase in the number of tourists received. The amount of tourism services reached 360 million yuan, accounting for 92.83% of operating revenue, a year-on-year increase of 418.08%, and a gross profit margin of 64.56%. In terms of products, the proportion of cableway transportation revenue to operating revenue reached 49.81%, an increase of 372.27% year-on-year. In the first half of 2023, the company's three cableways received a total of 3.0066 million tourists, a year-on-year increase of 484.37%. Impression Lijiang has performed a total of 347 performances, receiving a total of 799000 tourists, a year-on-year increase of 3603.08%, achieving a revenue of 76.608 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3878.02%, and a net profit of 33.567 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 481.08%.

Jiuhua Tourism's operating revenue in the first half of this year was 380 million yuan, an increase of 218.43% compared to the same period last year. The net profit attributable to the shareholders of the listed company was 111 million yuan, which turned losses into profits compared to the same period last year. Similar to Lijiang Group, the domestic tourism market recovered well in the first half of this year, which has boosted Jiuhua Tourism's hotel, cable car, passenger transportation, travel agency and other businesses. In terms of cable car business, the company operates three cable cars in scenic areas, including the rooftop cable car, the Baishuigong cable car, and the Huatai cable car, providing transportation and sightseeing services, which is an important and stable source of income for the company.

Compared with simple scenic spots, Yu Garden, which has many business travel formats, has diversified returns on its shares. Its semi annual report in 2023 shows that the company has realized an operating income of 27.444 billion yuan, an increase of 21.86% year on year, and a net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies of 2.218 billion yuan, an increase of 225.83% year on year. Specifically, under the development strategy of "dual wheel drive" of industrial operation+industrial investment, the industrial operation effect of Yu Garden Garden Co., Ltd. is further highlighted. In the first half of 2023, the operating income of the consumer industry is 23.49 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 25.90%. The operating revenue of the core business jewelry fashion sector was 21.113 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 35.04%; The chain building process of the catering sector continued to accelerate, effectively improving the gross profit level, and further improving the brand profitability. In the first half of the year, the operating revenue of catering management and service business was 718 million yuan, up 159.68% year on year. The first half revenue of Green Wave Gallery, a famous restaurant in Yu Garden, was about 50 million yuan. After the renovation and upgrading of Yu Garden, an old hotel in Shanghai, in January 2023, the monthly sales after opening continued to achieve good results. The total revenue in the first half of the year was about 44 million yuan, an increase of about 16% compared with the same period in 2019.

The recovery of the tourism industry has also enabled online tourism companies to gain more business opportunities, and these companies have performed quite well this year. Tuniu recently released its unaudited second quarter performance report as of June 30, 2023, which showed a year-on-year increase of 170.5% in net revenue, reaching 100 million yuan. This growth is mainly due to the recovery of the tourism market and the growth of group tourism. The packaged tourism revenue in the second quarter of 2023 increased by 632.3% year-on-year, reaching 69.8 million yuan. In the second quarter of 2023, the gross profit increased by 296% year-on-year, reaching 65.4 million yuan. Tongcheng Travel's revenue in the second quarter of this year reached 2.87 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 117.4%. The adjusted EBITDA was 810 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 175.8%. The adjusted net profit was 590 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 428.9%. The adjusted net profit margin of Tongcheng Travel also increased from 8.5% in the same period of 2022 to 20.7%.

Of course, some tourism companies with less than ideal performance still face losses, but the losses have narrowed. According to the 2023 semi annual report of Zhangjiajie, the company achieved a revenue of 179 million yuan during the reporting period, a year-on-year increase of 573.55%; The net profit attributable to the shareholders of the listed company was a loss of RMB 41.0129 million, a year-on-year decrease of 65.02%. Among them, the tourism passenger transportation industry has the highest proportion of operating revenue, reaching 43.21%, followed by the tourism service industry, accounting for 36.71%. Zhangjiajie believes that in the future, the company will not only face competition in the transformation of the tourism industry towards high-quality recovery and revitalization, but also face risks such as weakened market competitiveness of mature projects, unsatisfactory operation of heavy asset projects, and insufficient talent replacement reserves in its own business development. The company's response measures include strict management and innovative marketing, investment promotion and operation of the heavy asset project Dayong Ancient City to promote the company's development, and proactive talent cultivation to promote efficient operation of the company.

The reporter from First Financial News learned that many scenic spots and local cultural and tourism bureaus are vigorously expanding and coordinating marketing to attract customers this year. For example, Sanya has launched the "Sanya Xi'an Tourism Scenic Area Dual City Linkage Plan" in collaboration with Xi'an. Through the linkage and cooperation of tourism enterprises, some scenic spots in the two regions can enjoy free and discounted tickets, share resources and complement each other's advantages, and jointly promote the high-quality development of the tourism industry. Lushan has partnered with Tencent for cross-border cooperation, and Tencent's game QQ Speed has entered Lushan to create the "QQ Speed National Open". In addition, during the promotion of the "Alliance Garden" in the Yangtze River Delta region of Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, and Jiangxi, more than 20 scenic spots were selected for free and limited time opening to Shanghai tourists.

The domestic tourism data for the first half of 2023 released by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism shows that according to the results of a domestic tourism sampling survey, the total number of domestic tourists in the first half of 2023 was 2.384 billion, an increase of 929 million compared to the same period last year, and a year-on-year increase of 63.9%. In the first half of the year, domestic tourism revenue reached 2.30 trillion yuan, an increase of 1.12 trillion yuan or 95.9% compared to the previous year. In addition, the "tourism+entertainment" project has also been very popular this year. According to data from the China Performance Industry Association, there were 193300 commercial performances nationwide in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of over 400%; The number of viewers reached 62.2366 million, a year-on-year increase of over 10 times.

According to the previous semi annual report forecast and the official performance of these tourism companies that have already been announced, this year's recovery in the tourism industry has driven a lot of related consumption, especially during holidays such as May Day, when there was a surge of tourists. This is also due to people's pursuit of spiritual pleasure consumption after the epidemic. This growth in passenger flow naturally drove the performance of multiple tourism related industries such as food, accommodation, transportation, tourism, shopping, and entertainment. However, due to factors such as the incomplete resumption of international flights and visa requirements, most tourists still chose domestic tourism in the first half of this year. However, with more outbound tourism destinations opening up and more international routes gradually resuming in the second half of this year, we believe that tourism in the second half of the year will continue. "The overall recovery of the industry will be better," said Zhao Huanyan, chief knowledge expert at Huamei.