China to resume group tours abroad; travel-related stocks worldwide surge

China government to resume group travels to more than 70 locations; worldwide, various stocks related to tourism and air travel surged in response of the development; top destinations include South Korea to Sweden.

Original story by Lim Hui Jie for CNBC

Travel agency Lotte Tour Development saw its shares spike more than 25%, while shares of luxury hotel operator Hotel Shilla surged 14%.

This will be the first time in six years that China would allow group tours to South Korea, having banned such tours in 2017 in response to the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system in South Korea.

China lifted a ban on group tours to more than 70 locations, giving travel and airline stocks in Asia a boost. Shares of Asian tour agencies, hotels and airlines all rose on Thursday after China announced it will allow group tours to 12 more locations across Asia.

China’s culture and tourism ministry said Thursday that group tours will resume to over dozens of locations in Asia-Pacific, Europe, Africa and North America.

Top travel destinations in Asia-Pacific included Japan, South Korea and Australia. The United Kingdom, Germany, Finland and Sweden as well as Middle East nations like Qatar, Oman, Lebanon and Israel were on the list.

South Korean airline and travel stocks saw the strongest reaction, with tour agency, airline and hotel stocks all surging.

Travel agency Lotte Tour Development saw its shares spike more than 25%, while shares of luxury hotel operator Hotel Shilla surged 17%.

South Korean airlines also saw gains, with Asiana Airlines climbing 7% and Korea Airlines advancing 3.1%.

Learn more about China’s re-opening of group tours to global destinations and how other industries have been impacted by this latest development. Read the original story by CNBC’s Lim Hui Jie at https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/10/china-lifts-ban-on-group-travel-boosting-asias-tourism-hotel-stocks.html