Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) shares are no stranger to topping lists.
The company's stock is often the ASX's most shorted share, but it seems not everyone is bearish on its future.
Trading platform, Superhero has looked back at its users' activity in 2021 and found that Flight Centre was among their most traded Australian shares.
Superhero founder and CEO, John Winters told The Motley Fool Australia that some of the platform's Aussie customers might have turned to investing in travel stocks to ease their notorious wanderlust through the pandemic.
At the time of writing, the Flight Centre share price is $17.72, 0.34% lower than its previous close.
Flight Centre shares traded like hot cakes this year
While Superhero users were locked in Australia – and often into their state or city – for much of 2021, many kept busy by swapping Flight Centre shares.
The company was Superhero's second most traded ASX stock between 1 January 2021 and 30 November 2021. It was only bested by buy now, pay later (BNPL) prodigy, Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P).
Fellow ASX travel share, Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) was also one of the platform's most traded shares. It came in at fourth place.
Winters told The Motley Fool Australia that the platform has noticed its users "invest in what they're invested in personally":
We know that Aussies love to travel and the last two years has really put a spanner in the works.
According to Winters, users' interest in getting on board with travel shares may have increased alongside certainty in Australia's reopening:
Particularly towards the end of the year, there was a lot more confidence in Australia opening up to the rest of the world – and also states opening up to each other – which could be a reason for our customers backing travel stocks this year.
Since the start of 2021, the Flight Centre share price has gained 10.69%. Its stock hit a high of $25.28 in October and a low of $13.59 in February.
Meanwhile, since December 2020, the number of people using Superhero has grown from 22,000 to a whopping 150,000. That represents a 581% increase.
