Major Bank Ratings | Goldman Sachs: Lunar New Year travel data remains generally healthy, fundamentals favor Huazhu, Atour, and others

Glonghui, February 25th｜Goldman Sachs released a report stating that the Spring Festival tourism data was overall healthy, with the number of domestic tourists increasing by 19% year-on-year to 596 million, and tourism spending rising by 19% year-on-year to 803 billion yuan, with an average daily growth of 6%. The number of outbound travelers increased by 24% year-on-year to 4.8 million, among which the Japan route saw a year-on-year decrease of about 50%, but the transfer demand for Southeast Asia and South Korea routes increased by 10-40% year-on-year, offsetting part of the impact. The report pointed out that the hotel industry performed outstandingly during the Spring Festival, with revenue per available room driven by average room rates, achieving a mid-to-high single-digit percentage year-on-year growth. Airfare prices also performed better than expected, limited by tight capacity, with domestic route ticket prices rising by 7% year-on-year and international route ticket prices rising by 15% year-on-year. Hainan duty-free shops underperformed expectations, with average daily sales increasing by only 15% (compared to 45% in January), mainly due to a decline in per capita spending. Macau’s average daily gross gaming revenue was 786 million Macau patacas, up 5% year-on-year, but below the expected 850 million to 900 million Macau patacas, partly due to a decrease in VIP room win rates.