The Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) share price hit a 6-month high after reaching $22.54 today. This comes despite the travel agent not releasing any price-sensitive announcements today.
At the time of writing, Flight Centre shares are swapping hands at $22.46, up 2.84%.
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Flight Centre lifts on reopening of tourism industry
As more countries begin to relax their COVID-19 restrictions, ASX investors have become increasingly confident in the sector.
Subsequently, this has driven the Flight Centre share price higher due to pent-up demand across the travel market.
A two-year hiatus from international travel has seen a flurry of passengers dust off their suitcases and head overseas.
Flight Centre has been in the hot seat as market conditions have improved.
In its FY22 half-year results, management noted that gross total transaction value (TTV) has increased quarter-on-quarter throughout the pandemic.
Notably, Flight Centre has become a much leaner and more efficient cost base model.
And with the Omicron variant decreasing in key markets, this is likely to lead to a bumper performance for the company.
In the strongest sign of a return to normalcy, Australia, the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States are now almost free of travel restrictions.
Countries such as Denmark and Sweden have completely removed restrictions and are accepting life with the virus.
While this all points to a rosy outlook now, it's worth remembering that the market can quickly change.
As such, Flight Centre has not provided any specific FY22 profit guidance. This is due to the lack of visibility around the likely time frames for recovery and government reactions to future variants.
Flight Centre share price summary
It's been a rollercoaster 12 months for Flight Centre investors, with its shares up 26% over the period.
When looking at this time last month, the travel agent's shares have risen by 18% on positive investor sentiment.
In contrast, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) index has gained 4% over the same time frame.
Based on valuation grounds, Flight Centre has a market capitalisation of around $4.49 billion.
