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Tongcheng Travel Sailed Through Pandemic with Strong Base to Embrace Growth

Strong User Base, Diversified Service Offerings and Deepened Penetration to Secure Opportunities from China’s Travel Rebound

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 21 March 2023 – Tongcheng Travel Holdings Limited (“Tongcheng Travel” or the “Company”, together with its subsidiaries the “Group”, stock code: 0780.HK), an innovator and leader in China’s online travel industry, today announced its audited consolidated results for the year ended 31 December 2022 (the “period under review” or “FY2022”).

In FY2022, Tongcheng Travel recorded a total revenue of approximately RMB6,585 million. The adjusted net profit amounted to approximately RMB646 million, representing an adjusted net margin of 9.8%. In 2022, Tongcheng Travel’s number of average monthly active users (“MAUs”) and number of average monthly paying users (“MPUs”) reached 234 million and 29.7 million, respectively, with an increased paying ratio of 12.7%, while the number of annual paying users (“APUs”) was 188 million.

Mr. Ma Heping, Executive Director and CEO of Tongcheng Travel, said, “We are pleased to have sailed through the rough tides during the pandemic which lasted over three years, with last year being the toughest of all due to a myriad of travel restrictions that severely hindered the mobility of people and business. In the past three years, we have expanded our active and paying user base, broadened our service offerings, developed new revenue streams through organic growth and acquisitions, sharpened our technological edge and deepened our presence in lower-tier cities market. These have improved our fundamentals and enhanced our strengths, laying a solid foundation for the Company’s strong and sustainable growth going forward.”

During the three-year span of the pandemic, the user demands have diversified, and the demand for local and short-haul travel gradually increased. Tongcheng Travel captured opportunities and achieved growth in both business and user amount. Its accommodation reservation business has delivered consecutive year-on-year growth since 2020. In addition, the number of average MAUs and MPUs posted growth in FY2022 as compared to the pre-pandemic period, with paying ratio edging up from 12% to 12.7% over the last three years.

Effectively Acquired Users with Diversified Traffic Channels

Tongcheng Travel maintained stable and effective traffic channels from Weixin mini program through deepening its cooperation with Tencent. Apart from the mini program, Tongcheng Travel kept exploring various scenarios within the Tencent ecosystem during the year to better interact with users and improve brand awareness.

Tongcheng Travel continued to develop its online and offline user acquisition channels to expand user base and further penetrate lower-tier cities market in China. It strengthened the cooperation with various hotels and tourist attractions to enrich its products and services on short-video platforms to provide users with more travel options and convenience. It also teamed up with hotels to acquire users through QR code scanning at hotels and continued to cultivate alternative traffic channels by further exploring public transport options such as metro and intra-city buses.

Reinforced Market Position by Expanding Business Scale

During the period under review, Tongcheng Travel continued to diversify its businesses to build a stronger foothold in the travel industry. Tongcheng Travel reinforced its presence in lower-tier cities by deepening the strategic cooperation with urban and rural bus operators. At the same time, Tongcheng Travel strived to enhance the travel efficiency across different business segments by promoting cross-selling, and enriched its one-stop products and services to better satisfy users’ needs during their journeys and increase their stickiness to the Company’s platform.

Furthermore, Tongcheng Travel continued advancing its technological capability to transform from Online Travel Agency (“OTA”) to Intelligent Travel Assistant (“ITA”), aiming to obtain higher efficiency and contribute to the digitalization of the travel industry. Measures include introducing a self-developed AI system to more customer service scenarios, establishing strategic partnerships with various airports across China, as well as developing and applying comprehensive SaaS solutions, to help more individual, small and medium-sized chain hotels and alternative accommodations raise their operational efficiencies and monetization potential.

ESG Rating Upgraded to AA

With its strong commitment to good governance and social responsibility, Tongcheng Travel’s MSCI ESG rating was upgraded from “A” to “AA” in September 2022. In the past year, the Company cooperated with different local governments to promote cultural heritage tourism, and formulated initiatives to give back to the society, such as helping graduates in their job seeking by offering them preferential air tickets and providing privileges to students during the winter break peak season.

Following the relaxation of travel restrictions earlier in 2023, Tongcheng Travel is optimistic about the recovery and sustainable growth of China’s travel industry. On top of reinforcing its business fundamentals, it has also initiated a number of acquisitions and expansion to broaden its presence along the industry chain. Such efforts included the establishment of comprehensive accommodation industry platform which offering hotel management, information technology, trade and procurement services, and the acquisition of Tongcheng International Travel Service Co., Ltd. which focuses on leisure travel business, to further achieve greater economies of scale and solidify the market leading first-mover advantage of the Company.

Going forward, Tongcheng Travel will continue to develop its traffic channels with a strong focus on untapped markets such as lower-tier cities and leverage its innovation capabilities to optimize products and services and to capture the opportunities in the post-pandemic era. Tongcheng Travel will also focus on corporate governance, environmental protection, and social responsibility in business operations to generate long-term sustainable value.

Hashtag: #TongchengTravel

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

Tongcheng Travel Holdings Limited (HKSE Stock Code: 0780.HK)

Tongcheng Travel is a one-stop shop for users’ travel needs. With the mission “make travel easier and more joyful”, Tongcheng Travel offers a comprehensive and innovative selection of products and services covering nearly all aspects of travel, including transportation ticketing, accommodation reservation, tourist attraction ticketing, and products including package tour, self-guided tour and cruise, covering a wide array of transportation and leisure travel scenarios primarily through its online platforms, which comprise its Tencent-based platforms, its proprietary mobile apps, quick apps and other channels.

As a technology-driven company, Tongcheng Travel leverages big data and AI capabilities to better understand the preferences and behaviors of users, thereby offering users customized products and services. Tongcheng Travel has a strategic focus on lower-tier cities in China and seized opportunities there supported by its diversified traffic sources, product innovation capability and flexible operation strategies. Through the in-depth understanding of user experience and advanced technological capabilities, Tongcheng Travel has been revolutionizing what consumers expect from the online travel industry, making the entire travel process more convenient, personalized and enjoyable than ever. Tongcheng Travel aims to develop and apply its advanced technology to transform from an online travel agency to intelligent travel assistant.

For more information, please visit the Group’s website at

US and Laos Cooperate in Anti-Human Trafficking Learning Event

U.S. Office To Monitor And Combat Trafficking In Persons Meets With Anti-Human Trafficking Secretariat Of Laos For Trafficking In Persons Learning Event
(Front row) U.S. Embassy Vientiane Deputy Chief of Mission, Shannon Farrell, and Police Colonel Latsamy Xayakham, Director General of the Anti Human Trafficking Department, co-chaired a Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Learning Event in Vientiane.

Lao and US officials met in Vientiane on Friday to jointly undertake an anti-human trafficking learning event.

Gold market shows screaming buy signals at the start of 2023

Increased demand for jewellery in mainland China and Malaysia will cause gold to soar above $2,000 in 2023.

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA – Media OutReach – 21 March 2023 – 2022 was a tough year for gold, but in the last three months of 2022 the situation changed radically: net short position in gold was on the low side; banks began to buy gold into foreign exchange reserves; the U.S. economy began to signal a slowdown in inflation, which in turn contributed to a softening of the Fed’s rhetoric. As a result, gold gained bullish momentum and added 13% by the end of the year.

main pic.jpg

For now, the gold market looks like a picture of a perfect storm in front of us—with a strong bullish rally and a moderate bearish correction. But to be more confident, gold investors need to dive into the specifics and study the fundamentals, such as supply and demand dynamics, significant political and economic factors.

The OctaFX experts examined supply and demand data, as well as the weight of other factors that have an impact on the gold price.

Central bank purchases are the main driver

At the end of 2022, demand for gold jumped 18% to 4,741 tonnes. The key driver of this growth was enormous purchases by central banks. In 2022, central bank demand was 1,136 tonnes (152% y/y), which is a record (see pic).


Pic. Net central bank demand in tonnes.

The reason for the increased demand on the part of the central banks is in the geopolitics and significantly correlates with the events in Eastern Europe. During the conflict, information about the freezing of U.S. Treasuries purchased by Russia appeared in the information field. This fact is a precedent showing that the traditional system of foreign exchange reserves does not work. It is therefore quite logical that the central banks of the world have revised the risks: they reduced the share of U.S. Treasuries and dollar cash in favour of physical gold.

Kar Yong Ang, a financial market analyst at OctaFX, believes that ‘due to continued geopolitical tensions and a virtually non-operational foreign exchange reserve system, central bank purchases will remain high throughout 2023 at 1,000–1,200 tonnes’.

Investment demand—potential driver to boost the gold price higher

Growth in demand from the central banks is confirmed by increased investment demand, which rose to 1,107 tonnes in 2022 (+10% YoY) mainly due to higher interest in physical gold. At the same time, withdrawals from gold funds continued in 2022, but were more moderate relative to 2021.

Pic. Gold ETF yearly flows (in tonnes).

There has been no clear participation of global gold ETFs over the past two years. But now the situation is changing. Comparing monthly flows between US and Europe ETFs, it appears that the outflow of gold from European ETFs masked the incipient positive flows into US ETFs. Futures dynamics have a statistically significant impact on ETF flows with a time lag of two months. Based on this statement, the 13% gold value increase in December 2022—January 2023 is not yet embedded in the current flows and will have a positive impact on investment demand over the next 1–3 months.

‘Considering the positive dynamics of the gold price, the growing demand from North American ETFs (50% of world holdings) and the absence of an inflation shock as well as softer monetary policy, total ETF demand will stop being negative and approach its median value for the last 12 years, reaching 124 tonnes by the end of 2023 (vs -110 tonnes in 2022),’ the OctaFX expert Gero Azrul commented.

Jewellery consumption in China has a significant impact

Jewellery consumption, the largest component of demand, dropped 3% to 2,086 tonnes in 2022. The decline was due to a lack of appetite mainly from the jewellery markets of China and zero-COVID policy—demand in China dropped 15% to 598 tonnes (vs. 699 tonnes in 2021). Chinese demand for gold jewellery accounts for one-third of global demand.

Pic. Jewellery demand in selected countries (2022).

Currently, a key blocker of industrial cycle recovery problems related to COVID lockdowns has disappeared—in early 2023, the Chinese government announced the abolition of zero-COVID policy.

The additional factor in favour of APAC demand growth is the growing demand in local markets. Thus, jewellery demand in Malaysia grew by 24%, in Singapore by 30%, and in Vietnam by 51%. In fact, business cycles in the APAC are moving into an early cycle in which gold mining companies (materials sector) are growing moderately over a 1–2 year interval.

In this regard, Kar Yong Ang expects the economic recovery of mainland China and PRC in particular to boost demand in 2023 by 17% year-on-year (up to 700 tonnes).

Gold supply is stable over years

Overall, gold supply shows a fairly stable picture. Even supply-chains and geopolitical disruptions of 2020–2022 had no statistically significant impact. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the last 13 years is 2.1%. The gold supply increased by 2% in 2022 to 4,755 tonnes, coming very close to the 2018 peak.

Opportunity cost and uncertainty are the key tailwinds for gold in 2023

Apart from the information above, investors need to consider four groups of additional fundamental factors: economic expansion; risk and uncertainty; opportunity cost; momentum / impulse.

From a macro perspective, a good portion of last performance can be attributed to the opportunity cost (weaker US dollar, followed by a drop in the US 10-year Treasury yield).

Conclusion:

  1. According to the OctaFX expert calculations, total physical gold demand in 2023 will increase by 6.3% to over 5,000 tonnes (vs. 4,740 tonnes in 2022).
  2. Gold price has an upside trend due to the opportunity cost factor—amid the continued weakening of the dollar and a moderate decline in the US 10-year Treasury yield.
  3. Extremely strong support for gold quotes in 2023 will be due to the risk and uncertainty factor, which will manifest itself in increased demand for physical gold from central banks.
  4. All these drivers allows forecasting the gold price over $2,000/oz by the end of 2023, which corresponds to a potential increase of +8.3% at the time of writing.

Hashtag: #OctaFX

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

About OctaFX

is an international broker that has been providing online trading services worldwide since 2011. It offers commission-free access to financial markets and a variety of services already utilised by clients from 180 countries who have opened more than 21 million trading accounts. Free educational webinars, articles, and analytical tools they provide help clients reach their investment goals.

The company is involved in a comprehensive network of charitable and humanitarian initiatives, including the improvement of educational infrastructure and short-notice relief projects supporting local communities.

In the APAC region, OctaFX managed to capture the ‘Best Forex Broker Malaysia 2022’ award and the ‘Best Global Broker Asia 2022’ from Global Banking and Finance Review and International Business Magazine, respectively.

Mother, Child Mortality Rates Decline In Laos

A health worker provides ante-natal care in a remote area of Laos (UNICEF)
A health worker provides ante-natal care in a remote area of Laos (Photo: UNICEF)

Mortality rates in children under five and birthing mothers in Laos have decreased significantly in the past year due to significant strides in hygiene and health promotion.

TERRAOIL SWISS AG: Terraoil Announces New Corporate Structure

Shareholders Will Be Invited to Participate in Restructuring of Terraoil

STEINHAUSEN, SWITZERLAND – EQS Newswire – 21 March 2023 – Terraoil Swiss AG (“Terraoil” or “Company”), an energy company with a strong focus on the Mediterranean is pleased to announce that the Company has completed the initial steps for the restructuring of the Company. The restructuring will provide all shareholders the opportunity to hold a pro-rata share of the new parent company (“Topco”) which shares are intended to be listed on an international stock exchange. It is expected that Terraoil will ultimately become a 100% owned subsidiary of Topco.

The restructuring will give all registered shareholders the opportunity to exchange their existing shares of Terraoil for shares of Topco on a one for one basis. The transaction is expected to be effected by way of capital increases of Topco by contributions in kind. Topco has been incorporated in Liechtenstein based on the analysis of the Company which showed that for many international investors it is more attractive to invest into a Liechtenstein rather than a Swiss company. All registered shareholders will receive further written communication directly from the Company with instructions on how to exchange their shares for Topco shares.

Topco has engaged a top tier investment bank as its financial advisor with respect to a pre-initial public offering financing. It is envisaged that this investment bank will also support Topco in a potential international stock listing. Shareholders will receive further information if and when available and appropriate.

Chief Executive Officer, Peter Krempin commented:

“We have reached a major milestone in the development of the group. Our shareholders will now have the opportunity to participate in the restructuring of the Company. Our partnership with a renowned investment bank is expected to provide the expertise to raise the required financing to advance the group’s projects and ultimately achieve the listing of our integrated energy company on an international stock exchange.”

If you are an Terraoil shareholder and would like additional information, contact Peter Krempin either via email investors@terraoil.swiss or by telephone at +41 71 544 01 20.

Hashtag: #Terraoil

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

About Terraoil Swiss AG

Terraoil is an international energy company with a focus to identify and advance business opportunities in the upstream oil and gas and renewable energy sectors in the Mediterranean region.

Terraoil forward-looking statements

This media release serves informational purposes and constitutes neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation or an advertisement to buy any shares of Terraoil Swiss AG in any jurisdiction. This media release does not constitute a prospectus within the meaning of Article 35 et seqq. of the Swiss Federal Act on Financial Services. In addition, investors should seek advice from their bank or their financial adviser. This media release and the information contained therein are not being issued for the purpose of selling shares in the United States of America, Australia, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, or the European Economic Area and must not be distributed within or to such countries or via publications with a general circulation in such countries.

This media release contains forward-looking statements such as projections, forecasts, and estimates. Such forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties which may cause actual results, performance, or events to differ materially from those anticipated in this media release. Readers should therefore not rely on these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this media release are based on the views and assumptions of Terraoil Swiss AG as of this date and Terraoil Swiss AG does not assume any obligation to update or revise this media release.

Laos Marked as “Country of Concern” for Food Security

Food insecurity Affecting Over 1 Million People In Laos
2022 FAO/WFP CROP AND FOOD SECURITY ASSESSMENT MISSION (CFSAM) TO THE LAOS. ( Photo : WFP )

A joint report from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Program (WFP) shows that over a million people in Laos suffered from food insecurity last year.

Could Luang Prabang Be at Risk of Overtourism?

Could Luang Prabang suffer from overtourism?
Tourists crowd the streets in Luang Prabang to witness the morning almsgiving ceremony.

Brought to its knees during the Covid-19 pandemic, Luang Prabang is now facing the opposite problem as swarms of tourists descend upon the city, with tourism experts sounding the alarm about the potential for overtourism.

Vientiane Authorities Urge Telcos to Bury Cables

Vientiane Government Urges Telephone Companies to Quickly Bury Their Cable
Messy telephone cables in Vientiane Capital, Laos (photo: iStock)

Vientiane’s Department of Communication and Technology issued a notice last week ordering telephone companies in the capital to bury their cables underground by 25 March.