Profits at Ctrip.com, China's largest online travel agent, more than doubled in the last quarter of 2007 as the company drew further ahead of its foreign-owned rival eLong.com.

Ctrip reported net profits of $18.6m for the quarter. Net revenues rose 54 per cent to $164m in 2007, and full year net profits rose 66 per cent to $55m.

"We were able to grow at a much faster rate than the air industry in 2007. That is a strong demonstration of our customer acquisition and service capability," said Ctrip chief executive Min Fan.

Ctrip's air ticketing business grew 72 per cent during the year. "Our total number of cumulative active customers grew to 4.2 million by the end of 2007, compared to 2.6 million by the end of 2006," said Min.

ELong Inc, which is controlled by US online travel giant Expedia, reported top line growth of 27 per cent but suffered a net loss of more than $3m in 2007, half of which came in the fourth quarter.

"We recognise that we have significant work ahead of us," said eLong chief executive Guangfu Cui.

"In the coming six months we will continue our efforts to improve customer experience by investing in back-office systems, streamlining order fulfilment and launching a major website upgrade."

Ctrip's sales and marketing costs rose almost 50 per cent in the fourth quarter as it hired more staff to cope with growing demand.

The company predicts the rate of revenue growth will slow to 35 per cent during 2008.