(Yicai) Nov. 21 -- Trip.com Group, China's largest online travel agency, reported a 19-fold leap in net profit in the third quarter of the year thanks to the recovery of the tourism industry after the coronavirus pandemic.

Net profit was CNY4.6 billion (USD637 million) in the three months ended Sept. 30, versus CNY245 million (USD34.49 million) a year earlier, the Shanghai-based company announced yesterday. Revenue doubled to CNY13.7 billion (USD1.9 billion) in the period.

"Throughout the third quarter of 2023, both domestic and international travel experienced a remarkable rebound, thanks to the robust summer travel demands," said James Liang, Trip.Com's executive chairman. "This shows just how eager travelers are to explore the world.

"Looking ahead, we will continue our efforts in expanding our global presence and cultivating artificial intelligence-related initiatives, laying the foundation for continued growth of our company," Liang noted.

Trip.Com's revenue from the accommodation reservation, transportation tickets, packaged tours, and corporate travel businesses soared 92 percent, 105 percent, 243 percent, and 60 percent, respectively, in the third quarter from a year earlier, largely due to a substantial recovery in the travel market.

Trip.Com's domestic hotel booking in the third quarter surged over 90 percent from a year earlier and more than 70 percent from the same period in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Outbound hotel and air reservations recovered to around 80 percent of the pre-Covid-19 level in the same period of 2019, compared to the industry-wide recovery rate of over 50 percent in terms of international air passenger volume.

Total bookings on Trip.Com's global online travel agency platform more than doubled both from a year ago and from the same period in 2019.

"In July, Trip.Com launched AI travel assistant TripGenie, which enhanced the user interface with our customers by leveraging natural language users' interface and providing actionable results," Jane Sun, chief executive officer of Trip.Com, said during the earnings conference call. “Since its launch, we have seen improvements in double order conversion rate and user retention.”

"TripGenie also achieved a remarkable self-service rate with the help of AI chatbot, which can handle numerous inquiries using text and voice accuracy to enhance this service," Sun noted. "This streamlined approach results in improved self-service resolution."

Trip.Com's shares [HKG: 9961] were trading down 1.4 percent at HKD276.40 (USD35.48) as of 2.45 p.m. in Hong Kong today. Its New York-listed stock [NASDAQ: TCOM] closed 3.4 percent up at USD36.67 yesterday.

Editor: Futura Costaglione