Asian Equities Analyst, Logistics & Transport, Tracking Traffic

Daniel Hellberg

Asian Equities Analyst, Logistics & Transport

Tracking Traffic

Focusing on Asian logistics, transportation, and travel companies

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

Updated with air departure and hotel information on October 30, our Chinese travel tracker dashboard shows a couple of interesting data points this week:<ol>
<li>The pace of flight departure growth slowed at the four Mainland Chinese airports we track, while airports outside Mainland China showed solid improvement. This is the opposite of what we've seen in most periods since we launched this product in April 2020.</li>
<li>Average hotel room rates quoted by <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/trip-com-group-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:180:1" rel="noopener">Trip.com (TCOM US)</a> firmed dramatically, but we worry about a single data point that had an outsized impact on weighted average rates. Even putting this odd figure aside, however, hotel rates improved slightly versus a month ago.</li>
</ol>

Updated with air departure and hotel information on October 30, our Chinese travel tracker dashboard shows a couple of interesting data points this week:
The pace of flight departure growth slowed at the four Mainland Chinese airports we track, while airports outside Mainland China showed solid improvement. This is the opposite of what we've seen in most periods since we launched this product in April 2020.
Average hotel room rates quoted by Trip.com (TCOM US) firmed dramatically, but we worry about a single data point that had an outsized impact on weighted average rates. Even putting this odd figure aside, however, hotel rates improved slightly versus a month ago.


TRACKING TRAFFIC's Travel Tracker Dashboard (October 30): Air Traffic Ex-Mainland China Firms

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>Strong top-line growth in Q126, but also margin compression due to rising OpEx</li>
<li>For Q2, Trip.com guided slower revenue growth and concomitant margin impacts</li>
<li>An antitrust investigation into Trip.com appears to be undermining growth trajectory</li>
</ul>


Strong top-line growth in Q126, but also margin compression due to rising OpEx
For Q2, Trip.com guided slower revenue growth and concomitant margin impacts
An antitrust investigation into Trip.com appears to be undermining growth trajectory


Trip.com Q126 Results | Strong Top-Line, Lower Margins | Ongoing Investigation To Hit Growth in Q226

Asia Pac ECM and Index Rebal, Shenton Research

Ke Yan, CFA, FRM

Asia Pac ECM and Index Rebal

Asia Pac IPO & Placement Research, China Biotech

DZT Research

DZT Research is an independent Asia Pacific equity specialist. Our quantitative research covers index rebalancing flows, alongside exchange data analytics accross Asia Pacific. On the equity capital markets side, we focus on Asia Pacific ECM, especially biotech and TMT. Our lead analyst is frequently cited by international media.

Quantitative Analysis

<ul>
<li>We analyse the changes of A-H premium on 185 stocks over the last week. The average A-H premium was 85.6% as of Jun 26th.</li>
<li>The average A-H premium changed by 5.5ppt week-on-week, led by real estate, information technology, utilities and offset by communication services, energy.</li>
<li>We highlight weekly changes in A-H premium for Midea, Cmoc, Htsc, China Longyuan, Times Electric, Innocare.</li>
</ul>


We analyse the changes of A-H premium on 185 stocks over the last week. The average A-H premium was 85.6% as of Jun 26th.
The average A-H premium changed by 5.5ppt week-on-week, led by real estate, information technology, utilities and offset by communication services, energy.
We highlight weekly changes in A-H premium for Midea, Cmoc, Htsc, China Longyuan, Times Electric, Innocare.


A-H Premium Weekly (Jun 26th): Midea, Cmoc, Htsc, China Longyuan, Times Electric, Innocare

Before Covid19 shut down outbound Chinese tourism in 2020, there were the mass protests in Hong Kong, which sharply reduced Mainland visits to its largest outbound destination in 2019.Before the Hong Kong protests, there was a drowning incident in Thailand in 2018 that killed dozens of Chinese visitors and sharply reduced travel to another top outbound destination. And before the Phuket accident came political disputes with Taiwan, Korea, and Japan, all of which temporarily reduced Chinese tourist visits to these important regional destinations. Taken together, these disruptions have undermined outbound Chinese travel demand and added to volatility.And what about Chinese domestic travel demand?Pre-Covid19, domestic tourism growth was flagging, and though it's been less volatile than outbound demand, Chinese domestic travel certainly has not been immune to demand shocks either (viruses, the partial displacement of air travel by high speed rail, etc.).We simply don't think investing in the growth of Chinese tourism is the "no-brainer" that many market participants seem to think it is. Between moderating growth rates and a series of external demand shocks, there have been few periods of sustained strong (10%+) demand growth in recent years. In our view, Chinese tourism can no longer be viewed as a growth industry.

Before Covid19 shut down outbound Chinese tourism in 2020, there were the mass protests in Hong Kong, which sharply reduced Mainland visits to its largest outbound destination in 2019.Before the Hong Kong protests, there was a drowning incident in Thailand in 2018 that killed dozens of Chinese visitors and sharply reduced travel to another top outbound destination. And before the Phuket accident came political disputes with Taiwan, Korea, and Japan, all of which temporarily reduced Chinese tourist visits to these important regional destinations. Taken together, these disruptions have undermined outbound Chinese travel demand and added to volatility.And what about Chinese domestic travel demand?Pre-Covid19, domestic tourism growth was flagging, and though it's been less volatile than outbound demand, Chinese domestic travel certainly has not been immune to demand shocks either (viruses, the partial displacement of air travel by high speed rail, etc.).We simply don't think investing in the growth of Chinese tourism is the "no-brainer" that many market participants seem to think it is. Between moderating growth rates and a series of external demand shocks, there have been few periods of sustained strong (10%+) demand growth in recent years. In our view, Chinese tourism can no longer be viewed as a growth industry.  

Is Chinese Tourism Really a 'Growth' Industry?

Air activity around the region appeared to improve on Friday, October 2nd, with departures from the nine airports we track rising to their highest level since we began monitoring data for this report (early April). As has been the case for the past six months, Mainland Chinese airports continue to lead the recovery, with other origins reporting only modest improvement, if any. 
Weighted average room rates in the cities we track remained well above Spring and Summer lows, but fell by 3% compared to a month ago. This is not surprising; despite the improvement in travel activity over the past few months, we doubt many hotels have regained substantial pricing power. 
Overall, the data we collected this week appears to confirm existing trends: Chinese domestic travel activity continues to improve, but regional activity remains far below year-ago levels. Pure Chinese domestic plays, whether transport or hotels, should continue to recover ahead of names exposed to cross-border travel, which still faces a multitude of Covid19-related restrictions.

Air activity around the region appeared to improve on Friday, October 2nd, with departures from the nine airports we track rising to their highest level since we began monitoring data for this report (early April). As has been the case for the past six months, Mainland Chinese airports continue to lead the recovery, with other origins reporting only modest improvement, if any. 
Weighted average room rates in the cities we track remained well above Spring and Summer lows, but fell by 3% compared to a month ago. This is not surprising; despite the improvement in travel activity over the past few months, we doubt many hotels have regained substantial pricing power. 
Overall, the data we collected this week appears to confirm existing trends: Chinese domestic travel activity continues to improve, but regional activity remains far below year-ago levels. Pure Chinese domestic plays, whether transport or hotels, should continue to recover ahead of names exposed to cross-border travel, which still faces a multitude of Covid19-related restrictions.

TRACKING TRAFFIC's Travel Tracker Dashboard (October 2): Air Activity Improves | Room Rates Stagnate

China

China Southern Airlines is a major airline specializing in comprehensive air transportation services, including scheduled passenger flights and the transport of cargo and mail. The airline also provides complementary services such as aircraft maintenance, catering, and ground handling. It is headquartered in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, and was founded in 1988.

Price Gauge
52-week Range	0.00 - 0.00
Market Cap (USDm)	0.00
P/E	0.00
Dividend (Yield)	0.00

China Southern Airlines (1055 HK)

TRACKING TRAFFIC's Travel Tracker Dashboard (October 30): Air Traffic Ex-Mainland China Firms

Air traffic and hotel room rate data from October 30 show an improvement in activity outside Mainland China (albeit from a low base) and improved...

Tracking Traffic

Trip.com Q126 Results | Strong Top-Line, Lower Margins | Ongoing Investigation To Hit Growth in Q226

Q126 saw strong revenue growth and some margin erosion. More importantly, weak Q226 guidance appears to highlight the heavy impact an ongoing...

Tracking Traffic

A-H Premium Weekly (Jun 26th): Midea, Cmoc, Htsc, China Longyuan, Times Electric, Innocare

We analyzed A-H premium changes in the past week and highlight A-H premium changes for Midea, Cmoc, Htsc, China Longyuan, Times Electric, Innocare.

Ke Yan, CFA, FRM

Is Chinese Tourism Really a 'Growth' Industry?

The effects of the Covid19 pandemic aside, we believe strong (10%+) growth in underlying Chinese tourism demand is becoming more elusive.

Tracking Traffic

TRACKING TRAFFIC's Travel Tracker Dashboard (October 2): Air Activity Improves | Room Rates Stagnate

what happened of note? air activity in china and elsewhere hotel room rates conclusions

Tracking Traffic

Price Gauge

52-week Range

Market Cap (USDm)

P/E

Dividend (Yield)