5 travel stocks to buy as seven destinations gets added to COVID green list

Highlights 

• Travellers from seven more destinations, including Canada, The Azores, Denmark, Liechtenstein, Finland, Switzerland, and Lithuania, will no longer have to quarantine after being added to the UK’s travel green list, starting 30 August 2021.
• The new travel rules were implemented after receiving recommendations from the joint biosecurity centre.
• Montenegro and Thailand are being added to the red list from the earlier amber list

Travellers from seven more destinations, including Canada, The Azores, Denmark, Liechtenstein, Finland, Switzerland, and Lithuania, will no longer have to quarantine as they are being added to the UK’s travel green list starting 30 August 2021. The new travel rules were implemented after receiving recommendations from the joint biosecurity centre.

On the other hand, Montenegro, and Thailand are being added to the red list from the earlier amber list. Only British nationals and residents would be allowed into the country from these destinations. Additionally, any traveller from these destinations will require to quarantine in a hotel for 11 nights and at a minimum cost of £2,285. The Department for Transport (DfT) blamed the spike in the number of cases and poor levels of genomic surveillance compared to other countries for two new additions to the red list.

Here we take a look at 5 travel stocks you can buy amidst changing regulations.

Carnival Plc (LON: CCL)

Carnival plc is a leading cruise operator and one of the largest travel leisure firms globally. On 25 August 2021, Seabourn and Princess Cruises, the company’s premium cruise lines, announced the restart of operations.

Last month, company’s AIDA Cruises had declared the expansion of vacation program with new cruises in the fall-winter season. It plans to restart operations for guests at 65% fleet capacity by the 2021-end, across eight cruise line brands. The company also plans to resume operations across its entire fleet by the end of 2021, thereby further increasing Carnival’s total operating capacity to about 75% by the year-end.

Carnival shares closed at GBX 1,566.60 on 26 August 2021. The shares of Carnival gave a return of 61.67 per cent in the last one year to shareholders, and the market capitalisation stood at £2879.08 million.

International Consolidated Airlines Group S.A. (LON: IAG)

FTSE 100 listed International Consolidated Airlines Group S.A. is an Anglo-Spanish airline holding company. For the half-year ended 30 June 2021, total revenues were down by 58.2% to €2,212 million from €5,288 million in the same period in 2020. British Airways, as a part of its sustainability targets had raised $785 million through enhanced equipment trust certificates (EETC) financing. 

IAG’s total passenger capacity for Q2 2021 (ended 30 June 2021) was 21.9 per cent of 2019 levels and continues to be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic due to quarantine requirements and government restrictions. However, the reopening of travel destinations and the addition of countries to the UK’s travel green list are expected to boost revenues for the company in the coming months.

IAG shares closed at GBX 161.72 on 26 August 2021. The shares of IAG gave a return of 14.73 per cent in the last one year to shareholders, and its market capitalisation stood at £8,022.72 million.

EasyJet Plc (LON: EZJ)

EasyJet is a multinational low-cost airline company based in the UK. The total number of passengers for the quarter ended 30 June 2021 increased to 3.0 million, in line with a rise in seat capacity to 4.5 million, up by 17% of Q3 2019 capacity levels. However, due to the pandemic, EasyJet’s was fully grounded for most of Q3 2020, with just 117,000 seats.

For the quarter ended 30 June 2021, revenues rose to £212.9 million compared to £7.2 million for the same period in 2020, and the passenger revenues increased to £151.9 million compared to £3.6 million for the same quarter of the last year.

EasyJet shares closed at GBX 811.80 on 26 August 2021. The shares of EasyJet gave a return of 32.69 per cent in the last one year to shareholders, and its market capitalisation stood at £3,707.89 million.

TUI AG (LON: TUI)

Germany-based TUI is an international travel and tourism firm. For Q3 ended 30 June 2021, the company’s revenues increased to €649.7 million compared to €71.8 million in Q3 2021. Within the hotels & resorts segment, 283 hotels constituting about 79% of the group portfolio were open by the end of Q3 with an average revenue per bed of €70 and an occupancy rate of 48%.

For the nine-month period ended 30 June 2021, the company’s cash and cash equivalents increased by €291.3 million to €1,524.4 million.

TUI shares closed at GBX 320.10 on 26 August 2021. The shares of TUI gave a return of 57.18 per cent in the last one year to shareholders, and its market capitalisation stood at £3,519.16 million.

Wizz Air Holdings Plc (LON: WIZZ)

Wizz Air is an ultra-low-cost carrier with head office in Budapest, Hungary. For the quarter ended 30 June 2021, passengers carried rose to 2.9 million compared to 707,184 in the same period in 2020. The company’s Q1 revenues increased from €90.8 million in 2020 to €199 million in 2021.

Wizz Air’s total cash as of 30 June 2021 reached €1,662.6 million, which included €1,499.8 million free cash.

Wizz Air Holdings shares closed at GBX 4,980.00 on 26 August 2021. The shares of Wizz Air Holdings gave a return of 32.80 per cent in the last one year to shareholders, and market capitalisation stood at £5,131.45 million.

Conclusion:

The pandemic stalled all travel activities in the UK. However, with relaxations in travel restrictions such as the recent announcements of reopening of international borders, change in quarantine norms, and addition of new countries to the travel green list, travel companies are expected to witness recuperation to pre-pandemic levels and investors can keep an eye on these travel stocks.