Press Room
Holiday Trading Update
"Golden week" for Sales over Spring Festival
Et-china.com International Holdings Limited, the leading travel services group in the fast growing region of South China, announces robust trading figures for its tour operating business during the Spring Festival, the first Golden Week holiday in the Chinese holiday calendar which runs from 6th to 12th February.
The Company's tour operation division, GZL, achieved gross sales of RMB95m and an 8.7% increase in income over the 7 day period, compared to the same period last year, despite the widely reported extremely unusual adverse weather conditions which affected Central and Southern China. The weather led to a reduction in number of domestic and inter-provincial tours sold by GZL. However this was balanced by sales of Outbound tours which were up by 19% on the corresponding period. Overseas tours, excluding Hong Kong and Macau, rose by 47% and tours to Europe increased by 119%. European package tours are 'high end' products, typically costing between RMB15,000 and RMB40,000 and the strong increase in sales indicates a growing appetite amongst consumers for this type of product.
The Group also announces that gross sales for GZL during January 2008 were up 69% against the same period in 2007.
Matthew Ng, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented: "I am delighted with the Group's performance over the holiday period and January. Despite one of the worst winters in living memory, we have demonstrated how robust our business model is and the strength of the GZL brand.
"The travel market in China, and in particular southern China, continues to grow at a rapid rate and as the economy maintains its growth, we are seeing more of our customers prepared to travel further and pay more."
Contact details for enquiries:
| Et-china.com International Holdings Limited | +44 (0)207 067 0700 |
| Matthew Ng | |
| Seymour Pierce, Nomad and Broker | +44 (0)207 107 8000 |
| Mark Percy | |
| Weber Shandwick Financial | +44 (0)207 067 0700 |
| Terry Garrett Stephanie Badjonat John Moriarty |