Omicron variant not affecting travel stocks yet

The omicron variant has left people worried across the globe and has also paved way for some travel restrictions and event cancellations. But despite the situation, a number of Americans continue to get ready with their holiday plans and are also on the way planning their much awaited holidays for 2022. The news is good for the travel sector. Shares of cruise line operators, online travel firms, casino and hotel companies are all facing a surge of their respective shares between 6 percent and 12 percent in the past five days and have also made them one of the top performers in the S&P 500.

Other travel related firms including the Royal Caribbean, United, American, Delta Marriot, Penn National Hilton and Host Hotels have posted profits in the past week. The investors are currently looking forward to a huge bounce in 2023 and beyond despite the fact that there is still a lot of uncertainty regarding travel plans for the next few weeks. Arnold Donald, the CEO of Carnival revealed that they are noticing a slight spike in the cruise cancellations due to the rise in the COVID cases. However, Donald added that the booking patterns remain strong and that they are not facing any major impact on the plans of the second half of 2022 and 2023.

The CEO of the cruiseline also said that the sector has seen a massive improvement compared to last summer as the vaccine rollouts continue and more countries are coming up with advancements therapies. Moreover, travel executives are also positive that soon people will also start taking business trips instead of the zoom meetings.

Meanwhile, health officials are not expecting that the new cases of omicron variant would lead to fresh lockdowns. Airline experts opine that leisure and corporate travellers will soon begin to feel safe on the planes. The AAR stocks improved to 5 percent after the earnings report was out and was up by another 3 percent in the following days.

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