Lijiang Co., Ltd. and Jiuhua Tourism disclosed their performance for last year one after another, and the key terms in their annual reports reveal common trends in the tourism market.

National Daily Reporter | Wen Duo National Daily Editor | Dong Xing Sheng

As the domestic tourism market continues to recover, the performance of listed travel companies has attracted much attention.

On the evenings of March 23 and 25, Lijiang Co., Ltd. (SZ002033, stock price 9.06 yuan, market value 4.98B yuan) and Jiuhua Tourism (SH603199, stock price 41.03 yuan, market value 4.54B yuan) successively disclosed their 2025 annual reports, providing a window for the public to observe the operational status and strategic layout of two regional tourism leaders.

Financial data shows that both companies achieved year-over-year growth in revenue and net profit in 2025. Among them, Jiuhua Tourism demonstrated a stronger growth momentum, with both revenue and net profit attributable to shareholders achieving double-digit increases.

In terms of profitability, Lijiang Co. performed better, with a net profit attributable to shareholders of 213 million yuan in 2025, nearly matching Jiuhua Tourism, but Lijiang’s revenue scale (860 million yuan) was slightly lower than Jiuhua’s (879 million yuan).

“Hotels,” “Inbound Tourism,” “Digitalization”… These common keywords written in the annual reports of both companies reflect the real situation of the tourism market last year.

As listed companies backed by well-known scenic spots, Jiuhua Tourism and Lijiang Co. delivered different results in 2025. In terms of performance growth rate, Jiuhua Tourism’s advantage was more obvious.

According to the annual report, Jiuhua Tourism achieved revenue of 879 million yuan in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 14.93%, and net profit attributable to shareholders of 213 million yuan, up 14.42% year-on-year. In contrast, Lijiang Co.’s growth was more stable, with revenue of 860 million yuan in 2025, up 6.42%, and net profit attributable to shareholders of 213 million yuan, up 1.24%.

Hotel business, as a common segment for both companies, contributed significantly to revenue growth during the reporting period. Lijiang Co.’s hotel operations performed well, with revenue of 199 million yuan in 2025, an increase of 18.88%, becoming a prominent growth point among various business segments. Jiuhua Tourism’s hotel business also grew year-on-year, with revenue of 255 million yuan, up 7.50%.

Regarding shareholder returns, both companies proposed cash dividend plans, but their strategies differed markedly.

Lijiang Co. plans to distribute a cash dividend of 3.50 yuan (tax included) for every 10 shares to all shareholders, totaling about 192 million yuan, accounting for 90% of the net profit attributable to shareholders in that year.

Jiuhua Tourism plans to distribute a cash dividend of 7.7 yuan (tax included) for every 10 shares based on the total share capital, totaling about 85 million yuan, representing 40.04% of the net profit attributable to shareholders in that year.

Cash flow is an important indicator of a company’s operational health. The annual report shows that the operating cash flows of both tourism companies maintained steady growth. In 2025, Jiuhua Tourism’s net cash flow from operating activities was 312 million yuan, up 19.06% year-on-year. Lijiang Co.’s net cash flow from operating activities was 388 million yuan, up 17.78%.

In the annual report, both Jiuhua Tourism and Lijiang Co. analyzed the future development trends of the tourism industry and the challenges faced by their companies, and both coincidentally highlighted “digital transformation” as a core strategy to respond.

Both companies mentioned the high-quality development trend of the tourism market, noting that this has brought opportunities to the industry. Jiuhua Tourism stated in its annual report that the tourism consumption demand of the public is shifting from lower-level to higher quality and more diversified, moving from focusing solely on sightseeing to balancing sightseeing with leisure and vacation. Lijiang Co. also expressed similar views, believing that the tourism market is steady and continues to develop with high quality.

Additionally, both companies mentioned the inbound tourism that was most popular last year. Jiuhua Tourism further indicated that in 2026, it will actively promote cross-border marketing, relying on inbound tourism marketing offices to explore the Southeast Asian market.

To cope with consumption upgrades and market competition, digitalization and smart technologies have become common choices for both companies.

Lijiang Co. explicitly proposed in its key work plan for 2026 to “focus on building a smart tourism platform,” fully embracing frontier technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence (AI), and exploring generative AI technology applications in content creation, intelligent customer service, personalized itinerary recommendations, etc., to innovate visitor experience and marketing models.

Jiuhua Tourism also emphasized in its discussion and analysis of operational conditions the need to “deepen digital and intelligent upgrades to promote management transformation.” Specific measures include continuously consolidating Jiuhua Tourism’s official platform, developing a membership system, and providing “one-stop” services such as ticket booking and hotel check-in; meanwhile, building a hotel supply chain management system to achieve centralized procurement and standardized processes to reduce costs and improve efficiency.

Cover photo source: Meiri Media Asset Library