Tuesday, June 24th, 2014
SEOUL, KOREA - With the summer vacation season approaching, the stocks related to travel and leisure are fast rising of late after a month of slump due to the ferry sinking incident and the political turmoil in Thailand. The share price of Hana Tour, the largest travel stock, has fallen 12.2 percent for the one month since the April 16 tragedy. The stock hit the bottom on June 5 at 61,600 won, after which it began rising rapidly. For 18 days until the 23rd, the stock has gained continuously except for two days, regaining 10.9 percent within less than one month.
Mode Tour, another large-scale travel agency, saw its share price rise 9.7 percent since early June after hitting the bottom at 20,500 won at the end of May. Stock analysts are paying attention to the change of air surrounding the travel stocks. Park Se-jin, BS Investment & Securities analyst, said, "Now that it's late June the reservation ratio would rise by a large margin comparing to early June." LIG Investment & Securities analyst Ji In-hae concurred, "The travel demand that has been lackluster for the whole month of May is reviving."
The strong won against the major currencies including the U.S. dollar is another factor that encourages people to take overseas trips. Byun Jun-ho, analyst with BS Investment & Securities, said, "In the second half, the strong won will persist while the consumer sentiment index will improve. The fact that the price earnings ratios of Hana Tour and Mode Tour at 16.4 and 12.0 are at the bottom level of the figures since 2010 is something to think about."