Trip.com Group (TCOM) Q1 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

For the period ending March 31, 2022

June 27, 2022 8:00 p.m. ET

Prepared Remarks

Questions and Answers

Call Participants

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Thank you for standing by and welcome to the Trip.com Group 2022 Q1 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to hand the conference over to Michelle Qi. Please go ahead.

Michelle Qi

Thank you. Thank you everyone for joining today. Good morning and welcome to Trip.com Group’s first quarter of 2022 earnings conference call. Joining me today on the call are Mr. James Liang, Executive Chairman of the Board; Ms. Jane Sun, Chief Executive Officer; and Ms. Cindy Wang, Chief Financial Officer.

During this call, we will discuss our future outlook and performance, which are forward-looking statements made under Safe Harbor provision of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. As such, our results may be materially different from the views expressed today. A number of potential risks and uncertainties are outlined in Trip.com Group’s public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Trip.com Group does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required under applicable law. James, Jane and Cindy will share our strategy and business updates, operating highlights and financial performance for the first quarter of 2022 as well as the outlook for the second quarter of 2022. After the prepared remarks, we will have a Q&A session.

With that, I will turn the call over to James. James, please.

James Liang

Thank you, Michelle. Thank you everyone for joining us on the call today. 2 years into the pandemic, the travel industry still faces pandemic-related challenges. The first quarter of 2022 showed a mixed picture in which the Chinese domestic market and the global markets have developed independently. In China, the first 2 months of the year were encouraging while March was relatively uneasy due to the outbreaks of Omicron in multiple regions, including the first tier cities. Such pandemic influence extended into April and May with strict pandemic control measures and travel curbs being imposed that largely limited the performance of the travel industry.

While our short-term perspective may not seem optimistic, demand for travel is still strong, which offers a brighter outlook for the long-term. With sound COVID risk reduction measures and improved safety perception, user confidence growth and their desire for travel recovers. Global travel continues to recover at a strong pace as governments continue to open up. We anticipate to see a similar pattern in China once the restrictions are eased.