Citigroup: Maintaining Ctrip Group-S (09961) and Tongcheng Travel (00780) “Buy” ratings, National Day long-distance and outbound travel data performed well

The Zhitong Finance App learned that Citi released a research report stating that it maintains the “buy” ratings of Ctrip Group-S (09961, TCOM.US) and Tongcheng Travel (00780). The target prices are 61 US dollars and 22 HKD, respectively. According to the bank, long-distance travel and outbound travel data performed well during the National Day Golden Week. The country's average daily passenger traffic increased 0.6% year on year. Among them, air, railway, road and waterway passenger traffic changed 0%, increased by 12.7%, decreased by 0.3%, and increased by 7.1%, respectively. Road passenger traffic may weaken due to the impact of fuel prices, thus driving the increase in railway passenger traffic.

According to data from China's immigration administration, the average number of daily cross-border visitors increased 6.7% year on year, and the total number of Chinese citizens traveling out of the country increased 9.3% year on year. Citi believes that the outbound travel data for Chinese citizens is performing well, while domestic demand for long-distance travel is likely to remain steady. According to a press release from the online travel platform (OTA), more visitors chose to depart before the National Day holiday this year, and the length of the holiday period has increased, which will support the OTA platform's performance in the third quarter of 2026.