The Zhitong Finance App learned that with the Qingming holiday approaching, the domestic travel market is heating up again. Reservations for holiday travel products such as air tickets and hotels for the Qingming holiday are gradually becoming popular. Returning home to visit family, enjoy flowers, go on holiday trips, and enjoy spring by car are the mainstream rhythms of holiday travel.

According to information, although the Ching Ming Festival is only a 3-day holiday, some netizens launched the “If you take a 3-day break, you can take an 8-day vacation” strategy, which has skyrocketed the popularity of “vacation tours.”

According to the “2024 Ching Ming Festival Travel Forecast Insights” report released by Ctrip, judging from the popularity of searches, during the Qingming holiday period, the popularity of domestic hotel searches completely surpassed the same period in 2019 and 2023, up 67% from last year; the popularity of airline ticket searches increased 80% year over year.

The early booking situation also reflects the popularity of the Ching Ming Festival travel market. The number of ticket reservations for scenic spots for holiday flower viewing tours increased more than 6 times over the same period last year, and domestic car rental reservations increased 240% year over year. Tianshui City, which recently became popular due to spicy hot weather, continued to be “hot and hot” during the Ching Ming Festival; according to Ctrip data, during the Ching Ming Festival holiday this year, the number of travel orders in Tianshui City increased more than 21 times over the same period last year.

Furthermore, outbound travel continues to heat up during the Qingming holiday this year. According to the “2024 Qingming Holiday Travel Trend Vane” report released by Flying Pig, up to now, the number of outbound hotel reservations has nearly tripled compared to last year, and the number of outbound travel product reservations has increased more than fourfold compared to last year. Japan, Thailand, South Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Macau, Indonesia, and the United Arab Emirates are popular destinations.

In fact, with favorable policies such as entry and exit visas and favorable flight news, both the supply and demand sides of international routes are recovering at an accelerated pace.

According to data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China, in February, the recovery of China's airlines in the international aviation market accelerated. The total number of passengers carried on international routes was 4.892 million, recovering to 81.8% in the same period in 2019, and rebounded for three consecutive months. Meanwhile, many airlines, including Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, and Spring Airlines, have recently resumed or increased international routes and added international flights. Some airlines have announced that international passenger traffic has exceeded the same period in 2019.

Yongxing Securities said that judging from the current reservation situation, short trips and surrounding tours account for the majority of the three-day holiday stipulated in Qingming. For consumers, the 2024 Qingming holiday has more flexible travel options. Whether it is a short-term or long-term trip, it is expected to activate the “holiday economy” and drive cultural tourism consumption.

Dongguan Securities pointed out that domestic travel shows a strong trend in the off-season, which is expected to boost sector confidence. In terms of inbound and outbound travel, six more visa-free countries have been added unilaterally, and the General Office of the State Council issued “Opinions on Further Optimizing Payment Services and Improving Payment Convenience” to meet the diverse payment service needs of groups such as the elderly and foreign visitors to China. Looking ahead to the quarterly report, the most popular Spring Festival travel season and super long holidays led to strong travel data for the Spring Festival holiday and Lantern Festival. Data from platforms such as Ctrip showed that the travel sector in the first quarter was not weak in the off-season, and the performance is expected to exceed expectations.

Related concept stocks:

Ctrip Group-S (09961): In late February, Anxin International released a research report stating that it maintained the Ctrip Group-S “buy” rating, raised the target price to HK$437, purchased ADS of US$224 million from September 2023, and announced a US$300 million shareholder reward plan (repurchase/cash dividend, etc.) to provide additional support to the stock price. Ctrip's domestic hotel reservations/air ticket reservations during the Spring Festival holiday increased by 60%/50% year-on-year, and outbound hotel and air ticket reservations surpassed 2019 levels. In view of the low year-on-year base effect in January, it is expected that the year-on-year growth rate of the first quarter results will still be impressive. The company's performance in 2024 is expected to take advantage of Dongfeng in the domestic tourism year and overseas expansion, and large-scale model and content marketing are expected to continue to optimize costs.

Tongcheng Travel (00780): Anxin International pointed out that the company is the OTA platform with the largest domestic traffic volume, with over 200 million annual paid users, 80% of the WeChat ecosystem, stable traffic & marketing/payment/technical cooperation with Tencent, and cooperation in the supply and sales of travel resources with Ctrip, which is beneficial to improving operational efficiency. The bank is optimistic that the accumulation of OTA platforms in the supply chain and full-link service capabilities will drive steady revenue growth and stable profit margin levels.

Huazhu Group-S (01179): On February 21, Huazhu Group released data showing that it received more than 7.35 million visitors during the 2024 Spring Festival holiday, 2.3 times the number of visitors during the Spring Festival holiday last year. The hotel occupancy rate increased by more than 20 percentage points over last year's Spring Festival holiday, and nearly 12 percentage points higher than the 2019 Spring Festival holiday hotel occupancy rate according to a comparable scale.

China Eastern Airlines Co., Ltd. (00670): Cathay Pacific Junan maintained China Eastern Airlines' 2024 forecast of 9.5 billion yuan, adding an additional 2025 forecast of 10.5 billion yuan. China's aviation demand is resilient. The airline's supplementary aircraft orders will not change the capacity deceleration plan. The increase in international flights will drive the recovery of supply and demand, and the profit center can be expected to rise. The performance of the 2024 Spring Festival travel season is expected to catalyze optimistic market expectations.