Passports to profit? Trip.com and Asia’s travel boom

The world’s two most populous countries have caught the travel bug.

According to IATA, Chinese domestic flights now represents 11% of total commercial aviation. In 1990 it was 1%. Meanwhile domestic air travel in India is nine times bigger than it was in 1990.

The amazing growth in the Chinese and Indian travel markets is a long-term trend. But it’s also a bounceback from the stuck-at-home horrors of Covid.

Both those factors are underpinning the success of trip.com, which owns China’s biggest online travel agency – and half its Indian equivalent.

In this video our Co-Chief Investment Officer Clay Smolinski explores Platinum’s decision to buy into trip.com at exactly the right, wrong time - the peak of Covid.

Trip is a holding in the Platinum International Fund, the Platinum Asia Fund and the Platinum Global Fund (Long Only). Trip shares have averaged a 15% annual return for the past three years (Source: Factset, in AUD, 24/5/24).