Earnings Labs

Tuniu Corporation (TOUR)

Q4 2022 Earnings Call· Fri, Mar 17, 2023

$6.92

-0.86%

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Same-Day

-8.72%

1 Week

-7.69%

1 Month

-9.74%

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Hello, and thank you for standing by for Tuniu's 2022 Fourth Quarter and Full Year Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. After management's prepared remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. Today's conference is being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time. I would now like to turn the meeting over to your host for today's conference call, Director of Investor Relations, Mary.

Mary Chen

Management

Thank you, and welcome to our 2022 fourth quarter and full year earnings conference call. Joining me on the call today are Donald Yu, Tuniu's Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and Anqiang Chen, Tuniu's Financial Controller. For today's agenda, management will discuss business updates, operational highlights and financial performance for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2022. Before we continue, I refer you to our Safe Harbor statement in earnings press release, which applies to this call as we will make forward-looking statements. Also, this call includes discussions of certain non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to our earnings release, which contains a reconciliation of non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures. Finally, please note that, unless otherwise stated, all figures mentioned during this conference call are in RMB. I would now like to turn the call over to our Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Donald Yu.

Donald Yu

Management

Thank you, Mary. Good day, everyone. Welcome to our fourth quarter and full year 2022 earnings conference call. In late 2022, the recovery of China's travel industry saw increased momentum due to the optimization of pandemic prevention and control measures, as well as the lifting of travel restrictions. As a result, Tuniu's [GMV] (ph) nearly doubled in December 2022 compared to November. China's domestic travel sector has kicked off 2023 with continued rapid growth, while the outbound travel market has started to recover with the gradual reopening of Macau, Hong Kong and some overseas destinations. We are pleased to report that in January and February of 2023, Tuniu's booking GMV for packaged tours both increased over 100% year-on-year. Despite the significant impact of the three-year long COVID-19 pandemic, China's tourism industry and Tuniu have both demonstrated remarkable resilience. Despite unfavorable external environment, we have managed to overcome various challenges and difficulties while leveraging the opportunities presented by the market. We have successfully upgraded our products and services while enhancing the company's capabilities and potential. In terms of products, Tuniu always adhere to placing the highest priority of meeting the demands of our customers. The pandemic has led to higher customer expeditions for quality travel experience. Guests are now [expecting] (ph) better food and accommodations, more flexible itineraries and personalized activities. This changes in demand have promoted Tuniu to upgrade our traditional packaged tour products. We have shifted our [marketing] (ph) to a higher-end model, which we call [max] (ph) premium products, and have implemented a strict quality control process for both our self-operated products and choice of flyers. During COVID-19, the satisfaction rate for our newly launched products reached 90%. Additionally, we have introduced a new mechanism to immediately take down products that receive extremely [unsatisfactory] (ph) ratings for further…

Anqiang Chen

Management

Thank you, Donald. Hello, everyone. Now I will walk you through our fourth quarter and fiscal year 2022 financial results in greater detail. Please note that all the monetary amounts are in RMB, unless otherwise stated. You can find the U.S. dollar equivalents of the numbers on the earnings release. Starting from the fourth quarter of 2022. Net revenues were RMB27.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2022, representing a year-over-year decrease of 63% from the corresponding period in 2021. The decrease was primarily due to the negative impact brought by the operating and the spread of COVID-19. Revenues from packaged tours were down 88% year-over-year to RMB5 million and accounted for 18% of our total net revenues for the quarter. The decrease was primarily due to the resurgence of COVID-19 in certain regions in China. Other revenues were down 27% year-over-year to RMB22.4 million and accounted for 82% of our total net revenues. The decrease was primarily due to the decrease in the fees for advertising services provided to tourism boards and bureaus. Gross margin was 45% in the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to a gross margin of 47% in the fourth quarter of 2021. Operating expenses for the fourth quarter of 2022 were RMB32.5 million, down 58% year-over-year. Gain on disposals of subsidiaries, which was allocated to operating expenses, was RMB32.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. Research and product development expenses for the fourth quarter of 2022 were RMB10.9 million, down 19% year-over-year. The decrease was primarily due to the decrease in research and product development personnel related expenses. Sales and marketing expenses for the fourth quarter of 2022 were RMB22.9 million, down 20% year-over-year. The decrease was primarily due to the decrease in promotion expenses and sales and marketing personnel related expenses. General and…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Our first question is from [Alice Li] (ph), a private investor. Please go ahead.

Unidentified Analyst

Analyst

Thank you, operator. Hello, management. With the recovery of tourism industry, how is the company's business doing so far? Could you please share any figures during the Spring Festival and any updates on the recovery progress and plan of outbound tourism this year? Thank you.

Donald Yu

Management

Thanks for the question. We're seeing a decent recovery of our businesses -- business since the first quarter this year as the market warm up. The domestic tourism market has fully opened. Overseas destinations start to reopen step by step. So far, we've seen an increase of 45% to 55% of our net revenues in the first quarter of 2023 on a year-over-year basis. For this Spring Festival, although going home was the main purpose for travel, leisure travel also surged compared to the past few years. According to our performance, transaction volume of packaged tours during this Spring Festival surpassed both 2021 and 2022 level, growing at triple-digit rate. Inter-province travel in the [fall] (ph) for our organized tours and outbound travel in the fall for our self-guided tours both increased this year. Outbound leisure travel products and services are [indiscernible]. Although, overseas travel were restricted for the past three years, we kept in touch with business flyers. While travel restrictions were lifted, we kind of immediately resumed our overseas business. For example, the Maldives, Tuniu has leading position in China travelers to Maldives. After the reopening of outbound travel, Maldives quickly attracted customer popularity and became our top overseas destination in terms of GMV so far. In one of our live-streaming shows, the sales volume of the product of Lily Beach, one of the islands in Maldives, reached over RMB10 million. Besides Maldives, Thailand, Singapore and New Zealand are also popular destinations. In general, outbound tours recovered in more rapid pace than domestic tours currently. With increase of cross-border flights and possible reopening of more overseas destinations later this year, the outbound tours will continue this robust growth momentum. To catch this growth opportunity, firstly, we built the overseas product teams. We have arranged experienced staff at key…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] We are now approaching the end of our conference call. I will now turn the call over to Tunia's Director of Investor Relations, Mary, for closing remarks.

Mary Chen

Management

Thank you. Once again, thank you for joining us today. Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any further questions. Thank you for your continued support, and we look forward to speaking with you in the coming months.

Operator

Operator

Thank you for your participation in today's call. This concludes the presentation. You may now disconnect. Good day.