Despite all odds, travel stocks are still a safe bet: Macquarie

Macquarie Bank (MQG) has released fresh analysis looking over the global travel sector, highlighting that wealthier consumers are still travelling at levels not far off pre-COVID.

While airline revenue growth is declining everywhere (except for the Americas), the Australia & New Zealand region remains an internationally significant source of demand for recreational flights.

Corporate flight demand also continues to lag.

On home soil

Australian travel spend is above 2019 levels. For this reason, travel management companies have actually outperformed the airlines themselves in Australia.

Ticket purchases being made by Australian recreational tourists are higher than in 2022, though, not dramatically above last year.

Analysts noted that leisure travel is surprisingly resilient when compared to the larger macroeconomic backdrop, which has not been framed by optimism whatsoever in recent months.

What does this mean for your stocks?

Macquarie Analysts recommended investors considered ASX-listed companies Flight Centre (FLT), Qantas (QAN) and Webjet (WEB).

Webjet and Flight Centre are expected to continue to benefit from resilient recreational travel but analysts noted that recessionary threats dangle over the heads of investors.

Should a hard recession trigger, analysts expect leisure travel to suffer, perhaps more in line with what one would predict to already be the case.