Last Updated -

April 19, 2026

Trip.com

Company Profile and Market Insights

Explore the business model, global strategy, and market performance including insights into its position in China.

Key facts

Founded 1999 • NASDAQ: TCOM • HKEX: 9961 • FY 2025 results (year ended Dec 31, 2025)

RMB 62.4b

Revenue (FY 2025)

RMB 33.3b

Net income attributable (FY 2025)

RMB 18.9b

Adjusted EBITDA (FY 2025)

RMB 26.1b

Accommodation reservation revenue (FY 2025)

RMB 22.5b

Transportation ticketing revenue (FY 2025)

20m

Inbound travelers served (2025)

About

Founded in 1999 in China and headquartered in Shanghai, Trip.com Group has grown from the original Ctrip platform into one of the world’s largest online travel groups. The company has been listed on NASDAQ since 2003 and on HKEX since 2021. Its mission is “to pursue the perfect trip for a better world,” and it now operates through a portfolio of brands that includes Ctrip, Qunar, Trip.com, and Skyscanner.

‍

At its core, Trip.com Group runs a one-stop travel platform that combines accommodation booking, transport ticketing, packaged tours, corporate travel, and travel content. Across its main platforms, the group offers more than 1.7 million accommodation options, flights from over 600 airlines covering more than 3,400 airports in over 220 countries and regions, and services in 24 languages with 35 local currencies on Trip.com. That mix gives Trip.com Group reach across both Chinese domestic travel and cross-border travel demand.

‍

Trip.com Group’s scale remained strong in 2025. Full-year net revenue reached RMB 62.4 billion, while international OTA bookings increased by around 60% year on year and the company served about 20 million inbound travelers during the year. Those figures show how far the business has moved beyond its China roots. Trip.com Group is now a global travel infrastructure platform that connects suppliers, travelers, and destinations across Asia and an expanding international network.

Business Model and Market Position

Trip.com Group runs a multi-brand travel commerce model built around transactions, traffic acquisition, and travel content. In 2025, accommodation reservation generated RMB 26.1 billion and accounted for 42% of revenue, transportation ticketing generated RMB 22.5 billion and accounted for 36%, packaged tours contributed RMB 4.7 billion and 7%, and corporate travel contributed RMB 2.8 billion and 5%. The remaining business comes mainly from online advertising and financial services. This revenue mix shows a platform led by hotels and transport, with smaller but growing profit pools in tours, managed travel, and ancillary services.

‍

Accommodation reservation
Accommodation is Trip.com Group’s largest revenue stream. The company provides access to more than 1.7 million accommodation offerings and earns most of this revenue through commissions from hotel reservation partners, with revenue recognized when bookings become non-cancelable. That structure keeps inventory breadth high while limiting balance-sheet risk compared with a model built mainly on pre-purchased room inventory.
‍
Transportation ticketing
Trip.com Group sells flights from more than 600 airlines across more than 3,400 airports in over 220 countries and regions, alongside rail, bus, and ferry tickets. The company states that its transportation ticketing business operates through wholly owned subsidiaries, VIE structures, and a network of ecosystem partners, with revenue coming mainly from commissions and related services. This makes transport a high-volume traffic engine that feeds cross-selling into hotels, packages, and in-destination services.
‍
Packaged tours and corporate travel
Trip.com Group also monetizes leisure and business travel through packaged tours, in-destination activities, and corporate travel management. In the 20-F, the company says corporate travel revenue comes mainly from commissions on transportation, accommodation, and package-tour services rendered to corporate clients under a service-fee model. This gives the group exposure to higher-frequency travel demand from companies, alongside consumer demand from holiday and self-guided travel.
‍
Multi-brand demand funnel
The group’s brands play different roles across the funnel. Ctrip and Qunar anchor the domestic China market, while Trip.com serves international OTA demand and Skyscanner adds metasearch traffic across more than 50 countries and regions. Travix and TravelFusion extend the group further into international flight distribution and travel connectivity. Taken together, this gives Trip.com Group a broader model than a single-brand OTA because it combines transaction platforms, metasearch, and distribution infrastructure inside one network.

‍

Trip.com Group’s market position strengthened further in 2025. The company describes itself as a leading global one-stop travel platform and the go-to destination for many travelers in Asia. That claim is supported by operating momentum. Overall bookings on its international OTA platform increased by around 60% year on year in 2025, and the company served about 20 million inbound travelers during the year. For investors, the key point is that Trip.com Group is no longer only a China online travel agent. It is a scaled travel platform with strong domestic demand capture, growing international reach, and a business structure that spans booking, discovery, content, and supplier distribution.

Performance in China

China remains Trip.com Group’s home market and operating core through Ctrip and Qunar, which the company describes as leading travel brands in China. In 2025, Trip.com Group served about 20 million inbound travelers to China, and management called inbound travel a key growth driver for the business.

‍

Key strategic drivers in China include:

‍

Strong domestic brand coverage
Trip.com Group’s China business is anchored by Ctrip and Qunar, giving the company broad reach across accommodation, flights, rail, package tours, and corporate travel. The company says these brands are central to maintaining its market position in China, where supplier relationships, user traffic, and service breadth still matter more than a single low-price offer.
‍
Inbound travel is becoming a larger China growth lever
Trip.com Group’s latest results show that inbound travel is now one of the clearest growth drivers inside its home market. That trend is supported by policy. In March 2026, China said it would expand visa-free entry to more countries and improve visa-free transit rules to lift tourist spending. That gives Trip.com a stronger funnel for inbound hotel, transport, and local experience bookings tied to China destinations.
‍
Domestic travel demand remains healthy, even with softer spending per trip
China’s travel backdrop stayed active into 2026. During the Qingming holiday from April 4 to 6, 2026, the country recorded 135 million domestic trips and RMB 61.367 billion in domestic travel spending. Spending per trip dipped slightly, which points to a more value-conscious consumer, though the volume trend still supports Trip.com’s scale in transport and lodging distribution.

‍

Competition in China is getting tougher. Reuters reported in January 2026 that regulators opened an antitrust investigation into Trip.com over alleged abuse of a dominant market position. The same Reuters report said rivals such as Tongcheng, Meituan, and Fliggy could use that window to narrow the competitive gap. Trip.com said it was cooperating with the investigation, and its February 2026 results said business operations remained normal. For investors, the key point is that Trip.com still holds a strong position in China’s travel market, though regulatory pressure and competition now matter more than simple demand recovery.

Growth and Future Prospects

Trip.com Group enters 2026 with a larger global footprint and a still-healthy earnings base. Full-year 2025 net revenue rose 17% to RMB 62.4 billion, and the group ended the year with RMB 105.8 billion in cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash, short-term investments, and held-to-maturity time deposits and financial products. That balance sheet gives Trip.com room to keep funding technology, international expansion, and service upgrades.

‍

Key growth drivers include:

‍

International OTA growth is becoming the main expansion engine.
Overall bookings on Trip.com Group’s international OTA platform increased by around 60% in 2025. On the February 2026 earnings call, management said early 2026 growth on that platform was also running at about 60% year on year. International business contributed about 40% of total revenue and bookings in 2025, up from around 35% in 2024, with APAC still the main expansion region and the Middle East and other regions also showing strong momentum. This shift matters because it reduces dependence on one domestic market and gives the company a wider growth runway.
‍
Inbound travel to China is turning into a structural growth pillar.
Trip.com Group served about 20 million inbound travelers in 2025, and management described inbound tourism as the start of a longer growth cycle rather than a one-year rebound. On the same earnings call, management said more than 40 Chinese cities on its platform had already seen strong inbound travel contribution and that it aimed to double that number in 2026. China’s March 2026 measures to expand visa-free entry to more countries and improve visa-free transit rules give Trip.com a direct policy tailwind for hotels, transport, attractions, and local experience bookings tied to inbound demand.
‍
AI is moving from a support tool into a product and traffic defense layer.
Trip.com’s management said the group is building direct agent-to-agent transactional capabilities with leading AI partners and investing further in native AI tools for search and booking. On the 2025 results call, the company argued that its edge lies in proprietary booking data, live inventory, secure payments, guaranteed fulfillment, and 24/7 support, not in itinerary generation alone. That is important because the travel funnel is shifting toward AI-assisted discovery, while Trip.com still controls the transaction and service layers that produce revenue and customer trust.
‍
Service quality and partner enablement remain part of the moat.
Trip.com said it invested about RMB 2.9 billion in 2025 to improve customer protection and service quality across the travel journey. The company also said more than 110,000 tour guides and drivers were supported through its platform, which strengthens local fulfillment capacity as inbound and cross-border travel scale up. For investors, this matters because travel is a high-friction category where reliability, support, and local execution often matter as much as traffic acquisition.
‍

‍

Challenges ahead include:

‍

Regulatory pressure in China is now a live issue.
In January 2026, Reuters reported that China’s market regulator opened an antitrust investigation into Trip.com over alleged monopolistic practices. Under China’s anti-monopoly law, companies found in breach can face fines of 1% to 10% of the previous year’s annual sales. Trip.com said it was actively cooperating with the review. This raises the execution bar for pricing, supplier terms, and platform conduct inside its core home market.
‍
Growth is getting more expensive to defend.
Trip.com’s 2025 results already show rising investment needs. Product development expenses increased 15% to RMB 15.1 billion, and sales and marketing expenses increased 25% to RMB 14.9 billion. Management also described competition in the domestic travel market as dynamic on the February 2026 call. That means future growth depends on keeping brand strength, service quality, and product depth high without letting acquisition and operating costs drift too far upward.
‍
Travel demand remains sensitive to external shocks.
Trip.com’s latest annual report states that its business is sensitive to global economic conditions, travel industry disruptions, natural disasters, and geopolitical tensions. That exposure remains relevant in 2026. Reuters reported in March 2026 that airlines were already raising fares and cutting capacity after a sharp rise in oil prices, which increases the risk of softer travel demand if household budgets come under pressure. For Trip.com, that means the backdrop for transport and package bookings still depends partly on forces outside its control.

‍

Trip.com’s outlook is stronger today because international OTA growth, inbound China, and AI-enabled service are moving forward at the same time. The main debate for the next phase is no longer whether travel demand has recovered. It is whether Trip.com can keep scaling globally while handling tighter regulation, higher investment needs, and a more complex AI-driven distribution environment.

This Company Profile was written by Dominik Diemer

Dominik Diemer blends an investor mindset with execution discipline.

He is a SAFe Program Consultant (SPC) and Lean Portfolio Management (LPM) practitioner at DMG MORI Digital, working as a SAFe Release Train Engineer and internal consultant in the Lean-Agile Center of Excellence (LACE).

His focus is prioritization, flow, and dependency management that turns strategy into outcomes. With experience across Bertelsmann and the Founders Foundation, he bridges corporate and startup thinking.

He also invests privately in private equity deals, sharpening his view on business models, value drivers, and go-to-market.

StockCounterParts reflects that lens.

Dominik Diemer

Founder of StockCounterparts.com