Ctrip Warns of Avian Flu Affecting the Travel Industry (CTRP, LONG)

Ctrip (ticker: CTRP), a consolidator of hotel accommodations and airline tickets in China reported Q3 2005 earnings results last night. The following are quotes from CEO James Liang during management's earnings conference call (courtesy of Reuters):

If human-to-human infections become widespread...the travel industry will be significantly impacted as in the case of SARS

However, we expect the impact to be short term.

Comment: You may remember SARS as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome which hurt both the global economy and travel services firms in Q2 2003.

After trading up about 8% following announcement of Q3 results Ctrip is currently down 6% in pre-market trading.

CTRP chart.