On August 23, 2021, Tongcheng Yilong (0780.HK) released its second quarter and first half performance report as of June 30, 2021. Financial report data shows that in the first half of 2021, Tongcheng Yilong’s revenue was 3.75 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 70.1%; its adjusted net profit was 690 million yuan. With the development of the national economy, travel has gradually become a daily cultural consumption activity for all people. Benefiting from this, Tongcheng Yilong has performed well in various aspects.
In the second quarter of 2021, three long holidays drove the steady growth of China's national tourism market. Tongcheng Yilong, which is deeply involved in the mass tourism market, has seized the opportunity of market recovery. The financial report shows that in the second quarter of 2021, Tongcheng Yilong achieved revenue of 2.14 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 78.1%; adjusted net profit of 400 million yuan; average monthly active users reached 280 million, a year-on-year increase of 58.3%.
While its own business continues to develop, Tongcheng Yilong also actively fulfills its social responsibilities. Since July 2021, in the face of the reappearance of the new coronavirus epidemic in many places in China, Tongcheng Yilong immediately launched a heart-warming guarantee mechanism to help users achieve free refunds and changes. In addition, based on its own platform and technological advantages, Tongcheng-Elong actively empowers the travel industry chain, helping industry chain partners such as airports, scenic spots, hotels, and tourist destinations to improve operational efficiency, accelerate the digital development of the travel industry, and enhance the public travel experience.
National tourism consumption is growing rapidly, and Tongcheng Yilong MAU reaches a new high
With the continuous improvement of national living standards, the travel consumer group continues to expand, and travel has gradually become a daily routine of national life. Data shows that in the second quarter of 2021, Tongcheng Yilong's MAU (average monthly active users) reached 280 million, a year-on-year increase of 58.3% in 2020 and a record high.
The growth of Tongcheng Yilong’s user base has benefited from the improvement of national living and cultural consumption levels, as well as accurate judgment of the market. In April 2021, Tongcheng Yilong took the lead in the industry to launch the innovative product "Ticket Blind Box" based on its keen insight into the consumption needs of young users. The "Ticket Blind Box" has won the favor of many young users and has been on the hot search lists of major online platforms many times, increasing Tongcheng Yilong's brand awareness. In response to the growing demand in the surrounding short-distance travel market since the outbreak of the epidemic, Tongcheng Yilong launched an innovative marketing project with the theme of "48 hours" to meet users' new travel needs.
At the end of July 2021, Tongcheng Yilong renewed its strategic cooperation agreement with Tencent, and its traffic advantage continued to expand. Currently, Tongcheng-Elong provides WeChat users with one-stop high-quality travel products and services based on its understanding of the WeChat ecosystem and WeChat users. In the list of mini programs on the entire network released by Aladdin, Tongcheng Yilong’s WeChat mini program ranked first in the monthly tourism field for 6 consecutive months in the first half of 2021.
Tongcheng Yilong also continues to expand more diverse service scenarios. Online, Tongcheng Yilong has launched in-depth cooperation with mobile phone manufacturers, short video platforms, etc. to expand its services to smart hardware scenarios such as smart watches. Offline, Tongcheng-Elong cooperates with hotels, bus stations, and tourist attractions to transfer offline users to online by scanning QR codes and setting up automatic ticket vending machines. By enriching service scenarios and improving service quality, Tongcheng Yilong has increased its payment ratio to 12% on the basis of continued growth in user scale.
In response to the normalization of epidemic prevention and control, core business has grown steadily
In the second quarter of 2021, the Qingming Festival, May Day and Dragon Boat Festival holidays drove the rapid recovery of the tourism market, and domestic travel The number of people and travel distance have returned to pre-epidemic normality. Data released by the official website of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism shows that the total number of domestic tourism arrivals in the second quarter of this year increased by 33.0% year-on-year. According to data monitoring from the Ministry of Commerce, national online travel sales increased by 71.6% year-on-year in the first half of this year. Tongcheng-Elong has accurately grasped the opportunities of market recovery through flexible market strategies, and all core businesses have performed brilliantly.
The financial report shows that in the second quarter of 2021, Tongcheng Yilong’s accommodation business revenue was 740 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 93.3%; its transportation business revenue was 1.23 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 70.1%.
The growth of each core business far exceeds the industry growth rate and exceeds the pre-epidemic level. Compared with the same period in 2019 before the epidemic, Tongcheng-Elong's domestic accommodation booking room nights increased by more than 65%, domestic air ticket sales increased by nearly 30%, and bus ticket sales increased by more than 270%. Thanks to the strong growth of various businesses, Tongcheng Yilong's GMV reached 77.2 billion yuan in the first half of 2021, and the growth rate of all indicators outperformed the market.
Actively empower the industrial chain and help the travel industry recover
While its own business is developing steadily, Tongcheng-Elong relies on the power of technology to actively empower the development of the travel industry. In the accommodation industry, Tongcheng-Elong has launched a comprehensive SaaS solution to help independent and small and medium-sized hotel chains effectively manage daily operations and achieve digital transformation and upgrading. In the highway passenger transport industry, Tongcheng-Elong provides SaaS solutions to automobile operators to improve the operational efficiency of partners. Tongcheng-Elong has also launched strategic cooperation with Xi'an Xianyang International Airport and Beijing Daxing International Airport to help Xi'an Airport develop mini programs and data analysis systems to facilitate its digitalization. It also shares a membership program with Daxing Airport to provide tourists with comprehensive airport information. , improve user experience.
“Tongcheng Global Access” launched by Tongcheng Elong uses digital technology to help tourist destinations, airports, scenic spots, and hotels integrate practical information such as transportation, food, and sightseeing methods in the region to realize automatic navigation and smart navigation. Functions such as maps, VR booking, and AI intelligent customer service solve tourists’ service pain points before, during, and after their trip, making travel smarter and more convenient.