Citi: Domestic tourism performance during the Lunar New Year holiday is stable, continues to recommend buying Trip.com and TONGCHENGTRAVEL

Citigroup's research report indicates that according to official data from the mainland, during the 9-day Lunar New Year holiday, domestic tourism reached 596 million trips and industry revenue amounted to 803 billion RMB, representing an approximate growth of 19% compared to last year's 8-day holiday, reflecting that per capita consumption remained roughly flat year-on-year; daily average tourism trips and industry revenue grew by 5.7% and 5.5% year-on-year, respectively, showing a commendable performance.

The national passenger volume during the holiday increased by 9.4% year-on-year, with both short and long-distance travel showing solid growth. The daily average cross-border trips rose by 10.1% year-on-year, with the number of Chinese citizens traveling across borders increasing by 10.2% year-on-year, demonstrating robust performance, although slightly lower than the predictions of the National Immigration Administration, considering the impact of events in Japan.

The bank believes that the tourism performance during the Lunar New Year holiday is robust, reflecting that the domestic and outbound tourism markets continue to maintain a healthy momentum, which is beneficial for online travel platforms. However, the stock price of Trip.com (09961.HK) may continue to be affected by the investigation by the market supervision administration. The bank maintains a "Buy" rating for Trip.com and TONGCHENGTRAVEL (00780.HK); it sets a target price of $82 for Trip.com (TCOM.US) and a target price of HKD 28 for TONGCHENGTRAVEL