Asiatravel.com said its losses have deepened to $5.74 million for the year ended Sept 30.

Last year, the firm had reported a net loss of $3.77 million.

The latest set of weak numbers was mainy due to a 4.7 per cent drop in revenue to $87.1 million from a year ago, the firm said in a statement on Friday.

However, the company noted that it has plans in place to return to the black.

It has raised $8 million through a placement of 40 million new shares to Shenzhen-listed Beijing Toread Outdoor Products Co. It is working with Toread by tapping on its vast number of retail outlets and online presence to target the huge Chinese market, Asiatravel said.

It will now fully focus on ramping up marketing activities and advertising to drive revenue growth to return to profitability, the firm added.

"The group's revenue was under pressure starting from 2011 due to intense competition in the online business-to-consumer channel. In spite of this, the group continues to invest in human resource, expand its hotel inventories, develop and upgrade its reservation and sales platform and deepen its operation network," it said.

Asiatravel has recently launched a new website, www.thehotels.com, to spur growth in its hotel reservation business. This site will be promoted heavily in the coming financial year, the firm added.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances and with plans to significantly ramp up the its advertising, promotions and marketing expenses to strengthen its market position, Asiatravel said it "can expect to grow its revenue significantly and work on returning to profitability".