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9 Feb 2009 09:01
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For Immediate ReleaseΒ 9Β February 2009
ET-CHINA.COM INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS LIMITED
("the Group" or "the Company")
Trading Update
Substantial increaseΒ in trading over 'Chinese New Year'Β
Et-china.com International Holdings Limited, the leading travel services group in the fast growing region ofΒ South China, announcesΒ an update on itsΒ tradingΒ performance forΒ 7 day Chinese New Year period.
The GroupΒ achieved a substantial increase in sales during the period within a generallyΒ improvingΒ Chinese travel market.Β GZL,Β theΒ tour operatingΒ business,Β producedΒ a particularly good performanceΒ with revenue of RMB166.4mΒ during the 7 day golden week,Β a 49% increaseΒ over the comparable holiday period ofΒ 2008Β andΒ equal to nearlyΒ 10%Β of GZL'sΒ totalΒ revenue for the whole of the last year.
GZL
GZL, which is one of the largest travel package holiday providers in South China providing tour packages throughΒ 160Β high street stores as well as a twenty four hour call centre, servedΒ 86,990Β (of which 62,467 were travellers originated from GZL)Β package tour customers over the 7 day holiday, a 41% increase from 2008Β with a comparable increase in the number of tours organised by GZL. OfΒ the originated tourΒ increase,Β the number of domestic tour customersΒ grew significantlyΒ by some 65%Β toΒ 41,417Β and the number of outbound travellers increased by 10% to 21,050. The Board believes that these increasesΒ achievedΒ reflect the continued trend for travel amongst the Chinese population, as well asΒ the absence of the comparable period's adverse weather conditionsΒ which severely impacted the New Year travel period in 2008.
ETC
In the same period, the Et-china Limited subsidiary ("ETC"), which is primarily focused on the frequent independent traveller and corporate account markets,Β performed strongly over the period. Total numbers of tickets issuedΒ byΒ ETCΒ increased by 115%Β during the month leading to theΒ ChineseΒ New Year, whichΒ resultedΒ in a 72% increase in total transaction value toΒ RMB15.6m.
More significantly,Β ETC achieved a tenfold increase in the number of tickets issued via the internet which lead to an eightfold increase in revenues toΒ RMB206,231Β . This increase is mainly down to management's strategy to increase spend on online marketingΒ and is particularly pleasing as it illustrates theΒ exponentialΒ growth in the number ofΒ FITΒ travellers purchasing tickets over the internet endorsingΒ ETC's online business model.
Matthew Ng,Β PresidentΒ and Chief Executive Officer, commented:
"Et-china's trading performance over the holiday period has been very encouraging. Our tour operating business is performing well,Β achieving almost 10% of last year's total revenues over the week long holiday period. We are also heartened by theΒ strong performance fromΒ ETCΒ as it endorses our strategy of forming strategic alliances to deliver sales over the internet."
"While much has been written about the slowdown in the Chinese economy, we are seeing buoyant levels of activity. InΒ Southern China, we are experiencingΒ moreΒ people travellingΒ and an increase in their levels of spending which is a clear sign that they feel confident about the economy going forward."
"It has been a very encouraging start to the year and we look forward to consolidating our position as the leading travel services group inΒ Southern China."
- Ends -
Contact details for enquiries:
Et-china.com International Holdings Limited 0207 067 0700
Matthew Ng
SeymourΒ Pierce, Nominated Adviser and Broker 0207 107 8000
Mark Percy
Catherine Leftley
Weber Shandwick Financial 0207 067 0700
Terry Garrett
Stephanie Badjonat
John Moriarty
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