Although Ctrip released a financial report today whose main business growth data is not impressive，But this does not prevent the capital market from giving it more confidence，After Ctrip released this year’s second quarter financial report after the market closed，Ctrip rose slightly after the market opening 4.54% to 38.USD 65。

The past six months have not been easy for Ctrip，Affected by a series of negative events since last year，China’s largest online travel company，Facing a series of challenges in business model。

The second quarter financial report disclosed today，The revenue growth of Ctrip’s two main businesses, accommodation booking and transportation ticketing services, has slowed down significantly，This means，Its main business has entered a slow growth track。

But according to other data disclosed by Ctrip，This giant with business travelers as its core users is increasing its penetration into lower-tier cities and investing in offline stores，Meanwhile，International business also shows rapid growth momentum。

A series of signs indicating，While the main business has obviously entered the slow lane，Ctrip is working hard to replace its growth engine。

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In the first quarter financial report disclosed in May this year，Ctrip reported that operating income from transportation ticketing services was flat year-on-year、Results dropped by 1% month-on-month，In the second quarter financial report released today，The revenue of this business increased by 1% year-on-year、5% month-on-month growth。188bet online sports betting Compared to earlier growth rate，The income growth of this main business has almost stagnated。

If you take into account the fact that Skyscanner’s direct booking business revenue increased by about 600% year-on-year in the second quarter，It can be speculated that the revenue changes of Ctrip’s domestic air ticket business are more negative than the disclosed data。

Stagnation in financial data，From the series of negative events Ctrip encountered in the second half of last year。

During the National Day holiday last year，An article titled "10 billion a year？The article revealing the “trap” of “Ctrip” has been widely circulated on social networks。Subsequently，Ctrip issued a response through its official public account，Saying "verified，This article is an old article published in April this year，The content of the article is not true，Suspicion of defamation”。

Although the article that later triggered user discussions has been deleted，However, the public opinion ignited by this article about Ctrip’s “bundled sales” has intensified。The one who sent Ctrip into a storm of public opinion，is in the process of ticket booking，The default "bundling sales" behavior of tying various other products。

Under strong pressure from public opinion，Ctrip subsequently adjusted the ticket purchase process，"General booking" window launched，Customers can cancel at any time。May this year，Ctrip releases an open letter to shareholders signed by Sun Jie (CEO) and Liang Jianzhang (Chairman of the Board)，Emphasis on the core value of "customer-centric"。When Ctrip executives were interviewed，Also defines ticket bundling as an "error"。

Relaxing “bundled sales” is an inevitable move for Ctrip to restore its brand image and user reputation，At the same time, this move will inevitably have a negative impact on its revenue。

While transportation ticketing service revenue growth has stalled，Accommodation booking business, another major revenue segment of Ctrip, has performed relatively stably，But and 2016、Comparison of 188bet app revenue growth in 2017，The revenue growth of this business has slowed down significantly - second quarter，Ctrip’s accommodation booking revenue was RMB 2.8 billion (USD 425 million)，21% year-on-year increase，Mainly benefited from the increase in accommodation bookings，13% month-on-month increase，Mainly affected by seasonal factors。

The scale advantage of Ctrip’s integration has helped Ctrip gain greater traffic sources and stronger bargaining power，These all supported Ctrip in 2016、Related business revenue continued to grow rapidly in 2017，But as Meituan-Dianping increases its investment in the accommodation business，Competition in the stock market is becoming increasingly fierce，Ctrip wants to replicate the past rapid growth of its accommodation business，Very difficult。

Second quarter financial report display，Ctrip’s net income is 7.3 billion，Accommodation booking revenue is 2.8 billion，Transportation ticketing revenue is 3 billion，The two together account for nearly 80% of total revenue。For Ctrip，The slowdown in main business income is a dangerous signal，For this，The online travel giant is also trying to change its growth engine。

New engine: low-line + internationalization

Main business growth slows down，There are naturally greater expectations for the revenue of other businesses。

Second quarter financial report display，Ctrip’s operating profit margin is 10%，Further improvement compared to the previous month。Take travel and vacation as an example，In the second quarter of 2018, operating income from tourism and vacation business increased by 31% year-on-year；Business travel management business revenue also increased by 28%。

Based on the information provided by Ctrip，Revenue growth in these businesses，Inseparable from its development of new traffic sources。

While announcing the second quarter financial report，Ctrip disclosed another set of data: In the second quarter, the user penetration rate of the Ctrip brand in target low-tier cities increased by an average of about 40% year-on-year；Mid-August 2018，The single-day 188bet sports betting app download transaction volume of offline stores exceeded 70 million yuan。

Improving user penetration in lower-tier cities is of great significance to Ctrip。Past two years，Meituan-Dianping launches a fierce attack on Ctrip，Intended to tap into a larger pie in the online travel market by converting the huge traffic of its own platform。

May this year，One week before Ctrip disclosed its first quarter financial report，Meituan Travel vigorously spreads the news that its hotel room nights exceed Ctrip’s total for the first time。According to the information provided by Meituan，March 2018，Meituan Hotel surpassed Ctrip for the first time with 22.7 million room nights in a single month、Where to go、Total of Tongcheng Yilong。At the same time，First quarter of 2018，Meituan Hotel with a total order volume of 57.7 million，Ranked first in the industry。

Earlier，October 2017，Priceline, a world-renowned online travel company (now renamed Booking Holdings), is named 4.USD 500 million in Sequoia Capital led by Tencent、Meituan-Dianping’s new round of financing of US$4 billion with participation from famous investment institutions such as Tiger Management。

The partnership with Booking Holdings is very important to Ctrip’s overseas business，Booking.com’s rich overseas hotel resources are an important source of Ctrip’s overseas hotel inventory。Booking Holdings has partnered with Agoda, its Asia-Pacific-focused brand, and Meituan-Dianping’s wine and travel business，Will directly increase Meituan Travel’s overseas tourism resource inventory，Intensifying competition with Ctrip’s overseas business。

Always，Ctrip protects its air tickets by locking in high-net-worth business travel user groups、Competition barriers in hotels (especially high-star hotels) business，But increase investment in related businesses in Meituan-Dianping，Work hard to promote cooperation with Gaoxing Hotel，In the context of wooing Booking Holdings, an important shareholder of Ctrip，Ctrip must compete more directly with Meituan-Dianping。

188bet sports betting app download Penetrating into lower-tier cities is one of the key factors for the success of this war，At the same time，Penetrate into lower-tier cities、Reach more users through stores，It can also open up new traffic sources for Ctrip，Help it expand its incremental market。

In the context of increasingly fierce competition in the domestic market，Ctrip has also increased its investment in international business。

As early as Ctrip’s 2016 annual meeting，Liang Jianzhang once proposed that internationalization will become an important goal of Ctrip in the future，Liang has publicly stated before，"Hopefully within five years，Increase the proportion of Ctrip’s international business revenue in overall revenue to 40% to 50%。”

Since 2016，Ctrip has made a series of overseas mergers and acquisitions investments，Second half of 2017，Ctrip acquires travel search startup trip.com，trip later.com was launched as the English version of Ctrip，May this year，trip.com officially enters the Japanese market。Based on the investment and mergers and acquisitions in the previous two years，Now Ctrip is trying to pass the English version of trip.com directly participates in the competition for overseas online travel market。

Currently，Ctrip’s relevant layout in international business has begun to bear fruit。According to information provided by Ctrip: Benefiting from Ctrip’s outbound travel business and Trip.com’s rapid development，Ctrip’s international air tickets (excluding Skyscanner) and international hotel business volume increased by approximately 40% year-on-year in the second quarter；Skyscanner’s direct booking business continues to grow rapidly，In the second quarter, revenue increased by approximately 600% year-on-year。

Liang Jianzhang stated publicly earlier，"Hopefully within five years，Increase the proportion of Ctrip’s international business revenue in overall revenue to 40% to 50%。”If this goal can be achieved，It will mean that Ctrip has successfully replaced the engine that drives growth。

Currently，Ctrip is still on the way to 188bet online sports betting replace the engine，In the context of traditional main business encountering bottlenecks，The next two years will be particularly important for Ctrip。

*Source of this article: Tencent Technology, author of this article: Han Yimin, original title: "The growth rate of main business is slowing down, Ctrip is trying to change its growth engine》.