The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) may be storming higher on Friday, but not all shares are doing the same.
One area of the market that is missing out on today's rebound is the travel sector.
Here's a snapshot of the sector at the time of writing:
- The Corporate Travel Management Ltd (ASX: CTD) share price is down 3%.
- The Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) share price is 1.5% lower.
- The Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) share price is down 1%.
- The Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB) share price is down over 0.5%.
Why are travel shares underperforming today?
Today's underperformance appears to have been sparked by comments out of the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
On Thursday the trade association for the world's airlines warned that the impact of the pandemic on air travel was likely to be felt for many years to come.
In fact, the IATA estimates that passenger traffic won't rebound to pre-crisis levels until at least 2023. This would be a blow for the likes of airline operators such as Qantas and travel bookers such as Flight Centre.
Though, the IATA's director general and CEO, Alexandre de Juniac, told CNBC that he is optimistic that more planes will be in the skies in the next six weeks.
He said: "We are asking governments to have a phased approach to restart the industry and to fly again. We are aiming at reopening and boosting the domestic market by end of the second quarter, and opening the regional or continental markets — such as Europe, North America or Asia-Pacific — by the third quarter, and intercontinental in the fall."
Mr de Juniac also revealed that he is against the idea of 14-day quarantine periods for travellers upon arrival. Given how this is arguably the length of a typical holiday, tourism markets are likely to struggle with restrictions of this nature in place.
He explained: "We are advocating with governments not to implement quarantine measures that will retain people for two weeks that will arrive anywhere. We think that it is useless provided we have implemented the health and sanitary controls that we are discussing with governments. It is absolutely key for the tourist industry which is so important for so many countries in Europe."
It certainly looks like it will be an eventful few months for Australian travel shares.
