Whether it's the Kulturmühle Lützelflüh in the canton of Bern, a manor house built in 1785 in Aargau, or Montreux Castle on Lake Geneva: throughout Switzerland, buildings steeped in history offer themselves as vacation domiciles. Airbnb has now introduced the "Historic" category here in the country. In doing so, the U.S. room broker is responding to the trend toward cultural tourism - one of the fastest-growing segments in global tourism, according to UNESCO. It is not only in these special hostels that the rush is likely to be great in the upcoming summer vacation season. In general, tourism is booming now that the last Corona shackles have fallen worldwide. Already at Easter, important traffic routes and airports were bustling with activity, and popular vacation destinations were fully booked. Whether and to what extent Airbnb has benefited from the recent travel wave will soon become clear - on May 1, the company will present its figures for the first quarter of 2023.
On the stock market, the tourism service provider, which has been listed since December 2020, experienced a strong start to the year. In the first seven weeks of trading, the share price increased by more than two-thirds. The top of USD 144.63 marked Airbnb two days after the presentation of the 2022 balance sheet. For the past year, the Californians were able to announce record figures. In total, nearly 394 million overnight stays were booked through the portal - 31% more than in the same period last year. With revenue growth of 40% to USD 8.4 billion, operating profit (adjusted Ebitda level) shot up by more than 80% to USD 2.9 billion. Supply also expanded sharply: by the end of 2022, 6.6 million destinations could be booked on Airbnb worldwide. Excluding China, that was 900,000 more so-called listings than at the start of the fiscal period.
CEO and company co-founder Brian Chesky is also optimistic about the current year. "We are seeing strong demand in the first quarter," he wrote in a letter to investors. This, he said, shows that consumer confidence remains high when it comes to travel. "It is particularly encouraging that European guests are booking their summer travel earlier this year," the company said. At the same time, Airbnb would benefit from market share gains in Latin America as well as the continued recovery of business in Asia Pacific. Fittingly, despite all the economic uncertainties, the top executive presented an ambitious target. For the first quarter, Chesky forecast revenues in a range of USD 1.75 billion to USD 1.82 billion, which would have seen Airbnb grow by at least 16.7% and up to more than a fifth from January to March 2023. Analysts had expected quarterly revenue of USD 1.69 billion on average before the earnings report. To be sure, management expects lodging prices to fall slightly. Nevertheless, management would like to maintain last year's profitability in 2023. Based on adjusted Ebitda, Airbnb had reported a margin of 35% for 2022 - the highest figure since its IPO.
After the financial statement presentation, some analysts commented positively on Airbnb and set their price target upwards. Nevertheless, the share rally from the beginning of the year has stalled. Most recently, a report of negative experiences by guests who booked their accommodation through Airbnb weighed on the Nasdaq stock. Investors can take a partially protected position with a new issue from Leonteq. The Zurich-based financial boutique has launched three softcallable barrier reverse convertibles (BRCs) on the prominent underlying. The barrier is uniformly set at a low 50% of the initial fixing level. In the single version, where Airbnb is the only underlying, the CHF-denominated BRC pays a coupon of 13% per annum. In the USD version, the annual payout is 300 basis points higher. For a multi-BRC, Leonteq brings Airbnb together with two other online travel portals: Booking Holding and Tripadvisor. The trio makes it possible to pay a guaranteed coupon of 16% per annum in Swiss Francs. The term ends after 18 months at the latest for each product. Due to the softcallable feature, early termination and repayment is possible. Please also note: As soon as an underlying reaches or falls below the barrier, the partial protection expires.
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