The Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) share price is edging higher on Friday.
In afternoon trade, the travel agent's shares are up slightly to $17.78.
This means the Flight Centre share price is now up approximately 37% over the last six months.
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Can the Flight Centre share price keep in climbing?
The good news for investors is that it may not be too late to buy Flight Centre's shares.
According to a note out of Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG), its analysts have retained their outperform rating and $20.00 price target on its shares.
This price target implies potential upside of approximately 8% for its shares over the next 12 months.
What did Macquarie say?
Macquarie has been looking into the travel market and notes that progress is starting to emerge in respect to the restarting of international travel.
It believes this is a big positive for Flight Centre. Particularly given that the company's international bookings prior to the COVID-19 pandemic accounted for roughly half of its revenue.
In addition to this, Macquarie was pleased with the response to the Australia-New Zealand travel bubble. It notes that airlines have reported that bookings have been strong since the bubble announcement.
Looking ahead, Macquarie is forecasting Flight Centre's total transaction value (TTV) to reach 50% of pre-COVID levels in FY 2022. After which, it expects it to grow to 85% of pre-COVID levels by FY 2024.
What about other travel shares?
The broker is also bullish on Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) shares. This morning the broker put a buy rating and $6.45 price target on its shares.
With the Qantas share price currently fetching $5.13, this price target implies potential upside of almost 26% over the next 12 months.
Macquarie believes that a positive travel outlook and the structural business improvements it made during the pandemic will eventually lead to higher levels of profitability.
All in all, Macquarie appears confident both the Flight Centre share price and the Qantas share price can continue their ascent during 2021.
