Are ASX travel shares like Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) great value because of the coronavirus share market selloff?
Plenty of other ASX travel shares have seen dramatic declines like Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB), Corporate Travel Management Ltd (ASX: CTD) and Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT).
There's a lot of conflicting thoughts about whether they're buys or not. It can be clever to buy when there's 'blood in the streets'. But there's a major reason why they're trading so much lower. International travel has almost completely stopped. Domestic travel is also very limited right now.
However, remember that many of the ASX travel shares don't need international travel to resume. Domestic travel in Australia (and domestic travel in other regions) is expected to resume much sooner. If Aussie travellers simply go to another state rather than another country, then Qantas, Webjet and so on can still get a lot of their volume back.
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Has there been any news for ASX travel shares recently?
Yesterday we learned that the EU wants to lift travel restrictions so that there can be a tourist season this year. Austria and Germany are the latest countries to remove travel limits. On 15 June 2020 free movement of people within the EU should return. I think it's a positive move. But of course this is going to be dependent on staying in control of the coronavirus.
But today we also heard from the CEO of International Air Transport Association, Alexandre de Juniac, who said that normal international travel may not be back until 2023. I think that could be tough for ASX travel shares.
I'm not sure that every travel share is good value at the moment. There has been a big shift to business video calling during this period. I believe something like Corporate Travel may not see as quick of a recovery.
But if I were targeting ASX travel shares then I'd look at Webjet and Qantas first. I think domestic travel will return sooner rather than later, which will mean some earnings can recover and sentiment may return further for the share price. Don't forget that the RBA interest rate is now very low, which boosts asset prices.
