Vaccine results send travel stocks soaring

Travel and tourism outperformed other sectors on international stock exchanges on Monday (May 18), with investors returning to shares that had been demolished by COVID-19.

The gain was across the board and dwarfed positive sentiment in other sectors.

Industry leaders that benefited included:

  • Delta Air Lines soared 20% on good news from the vaccine front, cheered by positive news from US-based biotech firm Moderna about early results of a vaccine trial.
  • Booking.com parent Booking Holdings leapt 11%.
  • The leading cruise line stock, Royal Caribbean Lines shot up 16%.
  • TripAdvisor was nudging 21% up on the day.
  • Travel agency group Expedia was up 17% at 9pm on Monday.