(Yicai Global) Dec. 3 -- The third-quarter earnings of China’s big four online travel agencies signals a robust pickup in the country’s tourism sector, according to the Economic Information Daily.

Trip.Com Group, Tuniu, Tongcheng-Elong Holdings and Meituan had each published their earnings statements for the three months ended Sept. 30 as of yesterday, the report said.

Trip.Com, the biggest of the four, had its first profitable quarter since the Covid-19 outbreak, booking a net profit of CNY1.6 billion (USD244 million).

“We’ve already seen most of our major business segments return to pre-Covid level activities in recent months,” the report cited the Shanghai-based company’s Executive Chairman James Liang as saying. “The speedy recovery in our China market demonstrated once again the strong resilience of the travel industry.”

Tuniu’s net loss fell to CNY62.1 million (USD9.5 million) in the period from CNY155 million (USD23.6 million) in the second quarter, with a marked recovery in the Nanjing-based firm’s domestic travel business.

Tongcheng-Elong Holdings’ adjusted earnings jumped 87 percent to CNY499 million from the prior quarter, driven by growth in non-first tier cities, while Meituan’s revenues from its in-store, hotel and travel businesses rose almost 47 percent from the second quarter to nearly CNY2.8 billion.

The demand for leisure travel mostly recovered in the quarter, but travelers opted to make trips in China rather than overseas, Meituan said in its financial report, adding that that enabled the Beijing-based company to leverage its competitive advantages in the home market.

The rebound in tourism was also reflected in renewed hiring. The demand for talent rose 35 percent, ranking the sector in the top three for all job categories, according to a third-quarter report from online recruiter Boss Zhipin.

Trip.Com expects the strong recovery to continue while international travel will remain under pressure from the pandemic in the short term.

Editor: Peter Thomas