Crip.com International, China's biggest online travel agency, said yesterday that its earnings increased seven percent in the fourth quarter due to increased spending by Chinese tourists.

 

The company forecast, however, that its sales growth rate could fall this year as competition heats up in the hotel reservations and air ticket booking market.

 

Net income was 66.9 million yuan (US$8.6 million) for the quarter ending on December 31, or 26 US cents a share. Revenue jumped 45 percent to 226 million yuan, according to Shanghai-based Ctrip.com.

 

The Nasdaq-listed company earlier forecast 40 percent growth in fourth-quarter revenue. Ctrip has posted revenue growth of more than 40 percent every quarter since it listed shares in December 2003.

 

For this year, however, it expects net revenue to grow around 30 percent, compared with a 49 percent increase for all of 2006, when sales reached 780 million yuan.

 

Last year, China's online travel service market, the second-largest in the world after the United States, expanded nearly 50 percent, with total sales of 136 million yuan, according to the Internet Society of China. The organization expects the market to rise 41.2 percent this year to 192 million yuan.

 

While Ctrip believes domestic competition will remain fierce, the company said it was confident that its range of products, quality of service and brand recognition will help it at least maintain market dominance.

 

"With continued healthy growth in the travel industry, we are confident that Ctrip will capitalize on its strength and opportunities," Min Fan, Ctrip's chief executive officer, said in the earnings report.

 

 

 

(Shanghai Daily February 14, 2007)