Trip.com Group Q1 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

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Provided by Quartr
May 19, 2025

Key Takeaways

  • Trip.com Group reported Q1 net revenue of RMB 13.8 billion, up 16% year-over-year, with adjusted EBITDA of RMB 4.2 billion (+7% YoY) and diluted EPS of RMB 6.09.
  • Inbound travel bookings to China surged ~100% YoY in Q1, driven by visa-free and extended transit policies, with hotel bookings from key APAC markets up over 240%.
  • AI initiatives remain a strategic focus, as TripGenie session duration rose 50% and AI chatbots now handle 80% of inquiries, enhancing user experience and support.
  • Outbound travel and capacity recovery reached ~83% of pre-pandemic levels, with outbound hotel and air bookings now >120% of 2019 levels, led by long-haul destinations.
  • Operating expenses rose, with adjusted R&D up 14% YoY, G&A up 12%, and sales & marketing increasing 30% YoY, reflecting higher personnel and marketing investments.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Trip.com Group Q1 2025
00:00 / 00:00

Transcript Sections

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Operator

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Trip dot com Group First Quarter twenty twenty five Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. After the speakers' presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press 11 on your telephone.

Operator

You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. Call.

Operator

I'd now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Michelle Qi, Senior IR Director. Please go ahead.

Michelle Qi
Michelle Qi
Senior IR Director at Trip.com Group

Thank you. Thank you all. Good morning. Welcome to Triple Com Group's first quarter of twenty twenty five earnings conference call. Joining me today on the call are mister James Liang, executive chairman of the board miss Jane Sam, chief executive officer, and miss Cindy Wong, chief financial officer.

Michelle Qi
Michelle Qi
Senior IR Director at Trip.com Group

During this call, we will discuss our future outlook and performance, which are forward looking statements made under the Safe Harbor provisions of The US 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 dot Trip dot com Group does not undertake any obligation to update any forward looking statements except as required under applicable law.

Michelle Qi
Michelle Qi
Senior IR Director at Trip.com Group

James, Jen, and Cindy will share in our strategy and business updates, operating highlights and financial performance for the first quarter of twenty twenty five and the outlook for the second quarter of twenty twenty five. After the prepared remarks, we will have a Q and A session. With that, I will turn the call over to James. James, please.

James Liang
James Liang
Co Founder, Executive Chairman of the Board at Trip.com Group

Thank you, Michelle, and thanks everyone for joining us on this call today. The travel industry continues to show strong growth in 2025, driven by high consumer confidence, resilient demand and favorable policies. Trip.com continues to deliver outstanding performance benefiting from our diversified market presence. With operations spanning both mature and emerging markets, we've built a balanced portfolio that mitigates risks associated with regional economic fluctuations and reduces dependency on any single market. Following China's strategic push to attract international visitors, inbound travel has become our fastest growing segment.

James Liang
James Liang
Co Founder, Executive Chairman of the Board at Trip.com Group

A combination of visa free policies and increased visibility through global social media has made China a more accessible and attractive destination. In Q1, our inbound travel booking surged by approximately 100% year over year with South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia emerged as some of the fastest growing source markets. Trip.comGroup offers the most comprehensive China travel inventory covering accommodations, transportation, attractions and local experiences. We have actively enriched our content and services to better engage international travelers. Backed by our robust service capabilities such as multilingual support and personalized itineraries, we are confident to become the go to platform for those visiting China.

James Liang
James Liang
Co Founder, Executive Chairman of the Board at Trip.com Group

As global interest continues to rise, we will continue to enhance our offerings and user experience to fully capture this growing opportunity. AI remains a cornerstone of our long term strategy. As we deepen our investment in AI, we view it as a critical tool for enhancing user experience and streamlining the travel booking process. Our AI capabilities span the entire customer journey from trip planning to post sales support. By leveraging advanced language models, we deliver personalized recommendations, generate tailored itineraries with actionable links, and respond to user queries with greater precision.

James Liang
James Liang
Co Founder, Executive Chairman of the Board at Trip.com Group

This AI driven approach seamlessly integrates historical booking data with real time travel trends, allowing for dynamic updates that better align with evolving user needs. In the planning phase, our AI agent, TripGenie, has seen around a 50% increase in average user session duration, reflecting the growing interest in AI driven travel assistance. In the post sales phase, our AI chatbots and self-service tools handle over 80% of inquiries, offering 20 fourseven support, improving response times and boosting customer satisfaction. Our strong Q1 results underscore the resilience of our business model and the effectiveness of our strategic initiatives. With a continued focus on innovation, customer experience and operational excellence, we are well positioned to navigate dynamic economic environments and capture future growth opportunities.

James Liang
James Liang
Co Founder, Executive Chairman of the Board at Trip.com Group

With that, I will turn the call over to Jane for operational highlights.

Jane Sun
Jane Sun
Chief Executive Officer, Director at Trip.com Group

Thank you, James. Good morning, everyone. We are pleased to report a strong start to 2025. In the first quarter, our net revenue increased by 16% year over year reflecting solid momentum across our business. Adjusted EBITDA grew by 7% year over year demonstrating continued operational efficiency improvement.

Jane Sun
Jane Sun
Chief Executive Officer, Director at Trip.com Group

Encouraged to see that travel has become an increasingly essential part of people's daily lives driving sustained interest across markets. On the global front, overall bookings our international OTA platform grew by over 60% year over year. APAC remains a major growth engine. We drove this momentum by capturing rising demand from both and business travelers and by strengthening our brand and local presence. Our mobile platform now contributes 70% of international bookings, reflecting growing user preference for app based travel planning and increasing brand recognition.

Jane Sun
Jane Sun
Chief Executive Officer, Director at Trip.com Group

These achievements reflect the success of our localized operations and strategic partnerships. Our joint venture with JTB in Japan for example has strengthened and expanded our product offerings helping us better serve local travelers. By broadening our international reach, we continue to respond swiftly to changing market dynamics and build long term growth momentum. China is emerging as an increasingly popular destination among global travelers, with inbound travel gaining strong momentum. In Q1, inbound arrivals at the national level grew by 40% year over year with 75% coming from visa free regions.

Jane Sun
Jane Sun
Chief Executive Officer, Director at Trip.com Group

On our platform, inbound bookings increased by around 100% year over year with hotel bookings from key visa free countries in APAC surged by over 240%. These trends reflect the strength and competitiveness of our inbound offerings, which outperform other segments in both conversion rates and the cross link ratios. This momentum has supported by favorable policy changes. The two forty hour visa free transit policy introduced in December allows travelers from 54 countries to stay in China for up to ten days and expands eligible entry and exit ports to 60 across 24 provinces, significantly enhancing accessibility. Meanwhile, the new refund upon purchase policy enables travelers to instantly claim VAT rebates at designated stores and reuse the funds making China increasingly attractive to global visitors.

Jane Sun
Jane Sun
Chief Executive Officer, Director at Trip.com Group

To further enhance visitor experience, Trip.comGroup has launched free city tours for transit travelers in Shanghai and Beijing. We are also upgrading our offline stores into multilingual service centers offering international visitors personalized travel consultations, payment support and a wide range of localized services. Outbound travel from China also sustained steady growth during the quarter. In Q1, cross border flight capacity recovered to 83% of pre pandemic level. Our outbound hotel and air bookings have returned to more than 120% of twenty nineteen levels outperforming the market by thirty-forty percent.

Jane Sun
Jane Sun
Chief Executive Officer, Director at Trip.com Group

Despite short term disruptions in Thailand, the expanding travel radius of Chinese continues to support recovery with long haul destinations such as Europe seeing particularly strong growth. Domestically, demand remained robust with hotel bookings in China continuing to see double digit growth year over year. This underscores consumers' strong appetite for local exploration and travel experiences. Silver generation is rapidly becoming a vibrant force in the travel market with strong demand and growing enthusiasm for exploration. In Q1, both the number of Old Friend Club users and their GMV grew by 100% year over year.

Jane Sun
Jane Sun
Chief Executive Officer, Director at Trip.com Group

With both time and spending power on their side, this group is emerging as a key driver of long term growth. To better serve this growing segment, we carefully select and adapt travel products to meet the needs of senior travelers ensuring suitability, quality and competitive pricing. Our offerings now include over 7,000 travel products, 2,000 partner hotels and 4,000 hotel packages tailored specifically for the Silver Generation. We also provide one on one customer support throughout the entire journey to ensure a seamless and reassuring experience. To connect with this audience in new ways, we are producing short form series that resonate with them to promote travel offerings.

Jane Sun
Jane Sun
Chief Executive Officer, Director at Trip.com Group

Favorable policies are encouraging more suppliers to develop senior friendly products. As the supply of tailored offerings grows, we are increasingly well positioned to meet evolving demands and capture long term growth in this market. Among younger travelers, we are seeing strong demand for entertainment plus travel experiences such as music festivals, themed tours and destination events. In Q1, revenue for these products rose by more than 400% year over year reflecting a clear shift toward immersive experience led travel. This generation is increasingly prioritizing unique interest driven itineraries that blend leisure with lifestyle and self expression.

Jane Sun
Jane Sun
Chief Executive Officer, Director at Trip.com Group

To capture this trend, we are curating more niche offerings across popular themes such as concerts, anime and sports events delivering greater personalization and cultural relevance. As younger users continue to drive the growth of experiential travel, we see strong potential to further engage this segment through innovative product design and digital storytelling. Beyond business performance, we remain committed to creating long term value for society. As part of our efforts to support rural revitalization, We have built 34 country retreats to promote sustainable travel and stimulate local economies. In times of crisis, we act swiftly following the March earthquake in Myanmar.

Jane Sun
Jane Sun
Chief Executive Officer, Director at Trip.com Group

We launched a global SOS initiative to assist affected travelers with cancellations and offer timely support and reassurance. Internally, we continue to care for our people, offering employees with children 18 an additional three days of paid leave. This policy not only supports work life balance but also encourages family travel contributing further to the travel economy. In conclusion, our first quarter performance reflects the strength of our platform, the resilience of travel demand and our ability to capture growth opportunities across diverse markets. We remain focused on delivering innovative, localized and customer centric travel solutions to meet evolving traveler needs.

Jane Sun
Jane Sun
Chief Executive Officer, Director at Trip.com Group

Looking ahead, we are confident in our ability to drive sustainable growth and create long term value for our customers, partners and

Cindy Wang
Cindy Wang
Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President at Trip.com Group

Thanks, Jane. Good morning, everyone. For the first quarter of twenty twenty five, Trip dot com Group reported a net revenue of RMB13.8 billion, representing a 16% increase from the same period last year and a 9% increase from the previous quarter, primarily due to strong travel consumption and resilient travel demand across segments. Accommodation reservation: Revenue for the first quarter was RMB5.5 billion, representing a 23 increase year over year and a seven increase quarter over quarter. Outbound and international hotel bookings continued to deliver strong growth.

Cindy Wang
Cindy Wang
Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President at Trip.com Group

Domestic hotel bookings also remained resilient and outperformed the overall market. Transportation ticketing revenue for the first quarter was RMB5.4 billion, representing an 8% increase year over year and a 13% increase quarter over quarter. Outbound air bookings continue to grow, strongly and outpacing the broader market. Our international air business has also witnessed rapid expansion. Packaged tour revenue for the first quarter was RMB947 7,000,000, representing a 7% increase year over year and a 9% increase quarter over quarter.

Cindy Wang
Cindy Wang
Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President at Trip.com Group

The year over year growth was mainly driven by our international businesses. Corporate travel: Revenue for the first quarter was RMB573 million representing a 12% increase year over year and an 18% decrease quarter over quarter. The sequential decrease was in line with normal seasonality. Excluding share based compensation charges, adjusted product development expenses for the first quarter increased by 14% year over year. Adjusted G and A expenses for the first quarter increased by 12% year over year.

Cindy Wang
Cindy Wang
Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President at Trip.com Group

These are mainly due to increase in personnel related expenses. Adjusted sales and marketing expenses for the first quarter decreased by 11% from the previous quarter and increased by 30% from the same period last year. The sequential decrease was in line with seasonality, while year over year increase was mainly driven by heightened marketing efforts aligned with our business expansion. Adjusted EBITDA was RMB4.2 billion for the first quarter compared with RMB4 billion in the same period last year and RMB3 billion in the previous quarter. Diluted earnings per ordinary share and per ADS were RMB6.09 or US0.84 dollars for the first quarter of twenty twenty five.

Cindy Wang
Cindy Wang
Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President at Trip.com Group

Excluding share based compensation charges and fair value changes of equity securities investments and exchangeable senior notes. Non GAAP diluted earnings per ordinary share and per ADS were RMB5.90 (six) or US0.82 dollars for the first quarter. As of 03/31/2025, the balance of cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash, short term investment, held to maturity time deposit, and financial products was RMB92.9 billion or US12.8 billion dollars As of the earnings announcement date, the company has repurchased approximately US84 million dollars of its shares. This action underscores our commitment to delivering value to our shareholders. We remain dedicated to this strategy and will continue to evaluate opportunities for additional buybacks throughout the remainder of the year.

Cindy Wang
Cindy Wang
Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President at Trip.com Group

In conclusion, travel demand remains resilient across markets supported by strong consumer confidence and continued recovery momentum. With our solid foundation and focused strategy, we remain confident in our business outlook and long term growth potential. With that, operator, please open the line for questions.

Operator

Thank you. To withdraw your question, please press 11 again. To give more people the opportunity to ask questions, please limit to one question at a time. If you have follow-up questions, We will now take our first question from the line of Thomas Chong from Jefferies. Please go ahead, Thomas.

Thomas Chong
Thomas Chong
Managing Director at Jefferies

Hi. Good morning. Thanks, management, for taking my question. My question is about AI. Could Matt could you share your perspective on how vertical AI agents compare to general AI agents within the travel industry?

Thomas Chong
Thomas Chong
Managing Director at Jefferies

Additionally, as Trip.com has been operating the AI powered functions for a few years now, how do you envision the future development of these technologies? Thank you.

James Liang
James Liang
Co Founder, Executive Chairman of the Board at Trip.com Group

Thank you for your question. Vertical AI agents and general AI agents each bring unique strengths to the travel industry. Vertical agents excel at providing real time proprietary travel data and seamlessly integrating products and services that enhance the travel experience. General agents, on the other hand, offer a broader range of information beyond specific verticals. However, they still rely on vertical OTAs to complete the booking phase.

James Liang
James Liang
Co Founder, Executive Chairman of the Board at Trip.com Group

AI plays a crucial role in Trip.com's development road map. We have introduced a suite of AI tools to deliver efficient and reliable travel services. Our travel assistant, TripGenie, leverage advanced models to address user inquiries. The trip best recommendations inspire users and help them make informed travel choices based on authentic booking data and user reviews. We are pleased with the increasing user engagement with our AI tools and will continue to enhance them based on user feedback and technological advancements.

James Liang
James Liang
Co Founder, Executive Chairman of the Board at Trip.com Group

As our platform evolves, our goal remains to be the most efficient and reliable one stop travel service platform.

Operator

Thank you. We will now take our next question from the line of Yang Liu from Morgan Stanley.

Yang Liu
Yang Liu
Executive Director at Morgan Stanley

Could management provide some color about your performance during the Labor Day holiday and the quarter to date? Thank you.

Jane Sun
Jane Sun
Chief Executive Officer, Director at Trip.com Group

Thank you, Young. We are very pleased with our very strong performance during the Labor Day holiday. Our domestic hotel bookings increased by over 20% compared to last year, and cross border bookings saw a growth of around 30%, in which inbound bookings surged by approximately 150% year over year. The domestic air prices have increased year over year and domestic hotel prices are nearing last year's level, both demonstrating significant improvement since the first quarter. This strong performance suggests a very resilient demand for the leisure travel. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. We will now take our next question from Simon Zheng from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead,

Simon Cheung
Simon Cheung
Managing Director at Goldman Sachs

Thanks for taking my questions. Just a bit more on the outbound travel trend. Can you perhaps just share with us the industry trend and also your company's performance? And what is your expectation for the full year? And given, obviously, the current uncertain environment with all the tariff news and also a lot of volatility on the ForEx, how are you thinking all these factors are going be affecting your overall trend? Thank

Jane Sun
Jane Sun
Chief Executive Officer, Director at Trip.com Group

you, Simon. In the first quarter, cross border freight from Mainland China steadily recovered to 83% to 84% of the twenty nineteen's level. And the CAAC forecast that the number will exceed 90% by the end of twenty twenty five, up from around 80% at the end of the 2024, indicating double digit annual growth. Our platform have seen outbound bookings outbound bookings consistently outperformed industry with particularly strong growth in the long haul destinations such as Europe. At a group level, our inbound and outbound operations create a natural hedge where major foreign exchanges could positively affect one segment. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. We will now take our next question from Brian Gong from Citi. Please go ahead, Brian.

Brian Gong
Brian Gong
Internet & Media Research at Citi

Good morning, James, James, Cindy Thanks for taking my question, and congratulations on Good morning. Decent results. Question is on hotel ADL, which hotel industry hotel industry performance was noted in the first four months. How hotel prices trending recently?

Brian Gong
Brian Gong
Internet & Media Research at Citi

And how is the outlook for the full year in your view? Thank you.

Jane Sun
Jane Sun
Chief Executive Officer, Director at Trip.com Group

In the first quarter, hotel ADR in general decreased by high single digit compared with last year. As we move into the second quarter, we saw the decline narrowed and prices stabilized. Hotel prices only dropped by low single digit during the recent Labor Day holiday. In terms of supplier, overall hotel availability increased by high single digits year over year. Mid to upper range hotels showed significant growth, where we also saw the farthest growth the farthest increase on the demand side.

Jane Sun
Jane Sun
Chief Executive Officer, Director at Trip.com Group

Looking ahead, we expect that increasing travel demand and normalizing supplier growth will help to stabilize hotel price. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Alex Yao from JPMorgan. Please go ahead, Alex.

Alex Yao
Alex Yao
Co-Head of Asia Technology, Media & Telecommunications at JP Morgan

Thank you, management, for taking my question, and congrats on a strong quarter. Question is about consumer Can you share with us insights with regard to consumer sentiment in the context of dynamic macro environments and also the geopolitical tension at the current stage? Thank you.

Jane Sun
Jane Sun
Chief Executive Officer, Director at Trip.com Group

We are seeing quite resilient travel demand across the different markets where we operate it in. Although travelers preference for destinations are consistently changing, the most important factor for us is the ongoing growth in the overall demand. Leisure travel demand remain strong with per capita spending comparable to last year's level for the first quarter and the recent Labor Day holiday on our platform. Business travel trends are more closely tied to the macro environment, and we currently see a stable demand. In the first quarter, corporate users average spending on business travel was steadily year over year.

Jane Sun
Jane Sun
Chief Executive Officer, Director at Trip.com Group

And the recent survey indicates that over 90% of corporate users, they expect their domestic and international travel budget to grow or remain unchanged by 2025. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. We will now take our next question from Ellie Zhang from Macquarie. Please go ahead, Ellie.

Ellie Jiang
Ellie Jiang
Head of Asia Internet & Software at Macquarie Group

Thank you. Good morning, management, for taking my question and congrats on the strong results. Just have a question on the domestic competitive landscape. You help me understand, you know, what is the current landscape like? Have you noticed there are changes in competition, especially with competitors aggressive membership programs?

Ellie Jiang
Ellie Jiang
Head of Asia Internet & Software at Macquarie Group

And what will be their impact on the businesses? Thank you.

Cindy Wang
Cindy Wang
Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President at Trip.com Group

Thanks for your question. Regarding the domestic market, the competition tends to be rationalized. We are very glad to see that we are focusing on our really strengths. Our membership has been always very strong. On the consumer side, we provide a strong loyalty program, which enable our customers to get the best coverage with the most competitive pricing.

Cindy Wang
Cindy Wang
Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President at Trip.com Group

On the partner side, because of our strong membership scheme, our partner is able to differentiate different customers and offer customized service at different levels. So as a result, 80% of our revenue are provided and derived by our existing customers. And we will continuously to extend our leadership in this field. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Joyce Ju from Bank of America. Please go ahead, Joyce.

Joyce Ju
Joyce Ju
Analyst at Bank of America

Good morning, James, Singh, Cindy and Michelle, congrats on the strong quarter, and thanks for taking my question. My question is, could you provide some insights and more detailed colors into the first quarter performance, both operationally and also financially?

Jane Sun
Jane Sun
Chief Executive Officer, Director at Trip.com Group

In the first quarter, Trip dot com achieved a very strong growth despite a challenging comparison base with the overall bookings increased by more than 60% year over year. APAC remain our top priority for the operations, marketing, and growth driver. We are also expanding and growing rapidly in new markets such as The Middle East, which help to diversify our market portfolio and strengthen our global presence.

Jane Sun
Jane Sun
Chief Executive Officer, Director at Trip.com Group

As Trip.com continues to scale, our service and personnel related cost efficiency is also improving. Our marketing ROI remain aligned with our requirement despite a slightly higher marketing ratio due to the intensified efforts.

Joyce Ju
Joyce Ju
Analyst at Bank of America

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Wei Xiong from UBS. Congrats

Wei Xiong
Wei Xiong
Equity Research Analyst at UBS Group

on the solid results, and thank you for taking my question. I want to follow-up on the international business. So as you mentioned, Trip.com overseas has stepped up the marketing efforts. Could you please share in which areas are we allocating more resources? And what kind of strategies have proven to be more successful or less effective that needs improvement?

Wei Xiong
Wei Xiong
Equity Research Analyst at UBS Group

And also, what's the plan ahead for this year? Thank you.

Jane Sun
Jane Sun
Chief Executive Officer, Director at Trip.com Group

Thank you, Shunwei. Our product offerings and customer services are highly competitive, especially in Asia, helping us to intensify our marketing efforts in this region. We leverage all the marketing channels that meet our ROI requirement with direct app user acquisition proving most effective for the longer term growth. In the first quarter, our native mobile app accounted for approximately 70% of our orders with even stronger performance in the APAC region. Additionally, we have launched multiple campaigns to boost our brand awareness both online and offline in the key Asian markets.

Jane Sun
Jane Sun
Chief Executive Officer, Director at Trip.com Group

Overall, we prioritize marketing ROI and maintain flexibility in our strategies. Our campaigns are currently delivering the desired outcomes with a rapid increase in direct user and cross selling opportunities, which is expected to further enhance our long term marketing efficiency. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Parash Jain from HSBC. Please go ahead, Parash.

Parash Jain
Parash Jain
Analyst at HSBC

So thank you, management. And I have I have two questions. The first one, your on your earlier comment, if you can elaborate on, like, the core competencies in some of the some of the Asian and the other key markets as your pursuit of international expansion. How shall we see, like, which markets will lead in terms of bringing the underlying underlying profit to your existing portfolio? And my second question is, do the travel business in any shape or form has been disrupted because of all the trade tensions between US and China in particular and globally in general? Thank you.

Cindy Wang
Cindy Wang
Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President at Trip.com Group

Thank you. When we establish our strategy, we focus on a couple of areas. First of all, we offer one stop shopping platform, which gives consumers a comprehensive product offering. Therefore, if a customer is making their hotel reservation or flight to reservation, we immediately will use AI to recommend attached services, which they need during their trip. And so far that works very conveniently for our travelers.

Cindy Wang
Cindy Wang
Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President at Trip.com Group

The second thing is our excellent customer services. We are very proud of our service team. The service level is hold very high at global level. At any time, if you want to call our call center, our team is always there for our customers timely to address any questions they might have. The thirdly is the app usage is excellent, because Asia is a very active community.

Cindy Wang
Cindy Wang
Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President at Trip.com Group

So we developed a design that is very well established for app users, and we will continuously to put these efforts in. And as we increase our volume, our competitiveness in pricing and coverage also is enhanced. So these are the strengths we have seen when we extend our services from China to Asia and to the rest of the world. Thank you.

Operator

Thank Our next question comes from the line of Wei Fang from Mizuho Securities. Please go ahead, Wei.

Wei Fang
Director at Mizuho Securities

Oh, hi, James, James, Cindy, and Michelle. Thanks for taking my question, and congrats on the solid print. I was wondering if you can elaborate on some of the hello? Can you hear me?

Jane Sun
Jane Sun
Chief Executive Officer, Director at Trip.com Group

Yeah. Sure. Clearly.

Wei Fang
Director at Mizuho Securities

Oh, sorry. Yeah. I was hoping you guys can help maybe elaborate a little bit on the latest developments in the inbound business. Right? I remember it was a light low single digit group revenue, and glad to see that continues to grow over 100% year over year.

Wei Fang
Director at Mizuho Securities

So maybe you guys can help update us on the current revenue contribution. Thank you very much.

Cindy Wang
Cindy Wang
Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President at Trip.com Group

Sure. I will highlight it on the policy level as well as what we have done so far as our team to strengthen the attractiveness of our products. At the policy level, more than 40 countries are given free visa. That makes the inbound travel much, much easier. On top of it, the policy also extended to transit visa from three days in transit period to ten days for in transit travelers.

Cindy Wang
Cindy Wang
Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President at Trip.com Group

That also makes business travelers much easier to travel inbound. So we are very encouraged to see the change in policy. The second thing is, as the leading player in domestic market, we have the best coverage of all inventories with the most competitive pricing. And we also can cross sell different products when consumers come to visit inbound. So we have seen a strong momentum for inbound travel, and we're very glad we delivered three digits growth again in Q1.

Cindy Wang
Cindy Wang
Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President at Trip.com Group

We'll keep up with the strong momentum going forward. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from John Choi from Daiwa. Please go ahead, John.

John Choi
Executive Director at Daiwa Capital Markets

Thank you, and thanks for taking my question. Just quickly on your sales and marketing expense. I noticed that this quarter, compared to the prior expectation, the sales and marketing expenses seem slightly lower than expected. How should we think about the full year outlook on this side? Thank you.

Jane Sun
Jane Sun
Chief Executive Officer, Director at Trip.com Group

Sure. The sequential decrease in the marketing cost ratio was primarily due to seasonal shift in China. As previously mentioned, our marketing investments are highly focused on ROI tailored to individual markets and different type of channels. We adjust our marketing investment in real time based on changing marketing conditions. Although our investment adhere to ROI criteria, variations in marketing in market and channels mixes can cause fluctuations in overall marketing expenses ratio.

Jane Sun
Jane Sun
Chief Executive Officer, Director at Trip.com Group

In the short term, we will continue to enhance our global marketing investment as planned. Each quarter, the marketing ratio may fluctuate due to seasonality and the varying mix of different markets. In the longer term period, we aim to improve marketing efficiencies by increasing direct mobile traffic, enhancing cross selling opportunities as well as strengthening our customer loyalty on our platform. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Zhong Shao from Barclays. Please go ahead, Zhong.

Jiong Shao
Jiong Shao
Analyst at Barclays Capital

Thank you very much for taking my question. I think in the prepared remarks, you talked about you repurchased about $88,000,000 of shares in Q1. I was hoping you can provide a bit of an update on your capital return program. And should we expect you would step up to buy more shares per quarter in the coming quarters? Thank you very much.

Cindy Wang
Cindy Wang
Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President at Trip.com Group

Yes. We will step up with our efforts. For 2025, we have already given US200 million dollars cash dividends to our shareholders. And so far, we have bought back about USD 85,000,000 shares, and we'll continue with our efforts to buy back more shares when the market give us more opportunities. Our Board of Directors has approved the total amount to be about 600,000,000.

Cindy Wang
Cindy Wang
Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President at Trip.com Group

So there is still room for us to purchase back our shares. In addition to that, we also proposed to our shareholders to buy back shares in Hong Kong market. Upon approval, that will also increase our quota for buying back shares. Our commitment for capital return is firm. We will give our shareholders the opportunity on both cash dividends as well as stock buyback. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. We have now reached the end of the question and answer session. Thank you all very much for your questions. I'll now turn the conference back to Michelle for her closing comments.

Michelle Qi
Michelle Qi
Senior IR Director at Trip.com Group

Thank you. Thanks, everyone, for joining us today. You can find the transcript and webcast of today's call on investors.trip.com. We look forward to speaking with you on our second quarter twenty twenty five earnings call. Thank you, and have a good day.

Jane Sun
Jane Sun
Chief Executive Officer, Director at Trip.com Group

Thank you.

Operator

Thank Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect your lines.

Executives
    • Michelle Qi
      Michelle Qi
      Senior IR Director
    • James Liang
      James Liang
      Co Founder, Executive Chairman of the Board
    • Jane Sun
      Jane Sun
      Chief Executive Officer, Director
    • Cindy Wang
      Cindy Wang
      Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President
Analysts
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