This article only represents the author's own views.

Tourist traffic into China is slowly rebounding in the year since Beijing removed of pandemic-related restrictions, though that has yet to translate into handsome earnings for cross-border tourism plays. But new, better-than-expected financials from China Tourism Group Duty Free Co. Ltd. (CDF) (1880.HK; 601888.SH) are bringing hope for a battered corner of China’s tourism sector that, unlike domestic travel, has yet to strongly rebound.

CDF’s preliminary results released on Jan. 8 show the duty-free store operator brought in revenue of 67.6 billion yuan ($9.5 billion) and a profit of 6.72 billion yuan last year, up 24.2% and 33.5% year-on-year, respectively. Revenue in the fourth quarter rose 11.1% to 16.7 billion yuan, while profits for the period soared 275.6% to 1.51 billion yuan.