It was a tough day for the ASX travel industry shares today, with sizeable falls for the share prices of Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB), Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) and Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN).
Looking at what actually happened, the Qantas share price fell 4%. The Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) share price sank 7%. The Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB) share price declined 3.7%.
There was also volatility for other ASX travel shares like the Corporate Travel Management Ltd (ASX: CTD) share price which dropped 6% and even the Sydney Airport (ASX: SYD) share price fell 0.1% despite being a takeover target.
What’s going on with the ASX travel share sector?
There is a growing number of COVID-19 cases across Europe and the US. Reporting by the ABC attributed the travel stock decline to worries regarding lockdowns in Europe and an increase of cases in America.
Those regions are entering winter, which we normally also call flu season. COVID numbers on Worldometers suggest that new case numbers in the USA hadn’t been above 100,000 for over a month. But now they are.
Some countries in Europe are entering lockdowns again, such as Austria. Could this be the start of a lockdown in some of the biggest economies like Germany, France and Italy? Time will tell, but some investors don’t want to wait to find out.
Businesses like Flight Centre, Webjet and Corporate Travel were reporting profitability was rapidly increasing as regional travel returned. International travel would complete the recovery, but this resurgent spread of COVID-19 may be putting doubts in investor minds.
Are ASX travel shares an opportunity?
I think that investors being fearful about certain industries, or the entire ASX share market, can prove to be opportunities.
In my opinion, the business models and market share growth could allow Webjet and Corporate Travel Management to leverage the recovery stronger. Flight Centre has a network of physical outlets that may not be as profitable as they used to be (for various reasons including a shift by some consumers to e-commerce).
I think, most of the time, it’s best to be optimistic when it comes to these types of events. Humanity continues to pour money and time into research to come up with the best health outcomes for people when it comes to COVID-19, which I think will make it more likely that borders stay open and people keep travelling.
ASX travel shares could be some of the ASX growth shares worth keeping an eye on as the world eventually (hopefully) leaves COVID-19 behind.
