deVere Investor Insight - Q1 2021

a Victorian dress up murder mystery while you stay at a B&B, guided walks around the countryside to explore water mills, treasure hunts in a castle or in the local speciality shops. Tourists are attracted to the unusual, so a themed destination is also making a comeback e.g. staying in a windmill, an old converted barn, a treehouse, or a pirate themed B&B. Example of how a major attraction has manged to reinvent itself and survive. Disney is probably the biggest global attraction. They have had to close all their theme parks globally and shut down their cruise section at a loss of billions. But in a matter of one year, Disney’s streaming platform Disney Plus has acquired almost 95 million subscribers due to lock down and lack of access to resorts and attractions, and is predicted to surpass 240 million subscribers by 2024. Consumers love Disney and will search for the magic in whatever format they can get it. 2020 revenue was $16.25 billion, down 20 % percent from the previous year. A small drop compared to many other tourist industry groups. The release of Disney plus may have saved the company and their bottom line. With the promise of new Marvel and Star Wars shows, the streaming service is only set to boom and support the attractions and cruise sections until they can open and operate fully again. Don’t sell your tourist industry stock just yet. Big traders like airline stock and shares in attractions like Disney are slowly rebounding. Disney took a minor hit, but stock has steadily climbed over the last year as did Hilton resorts. Even Boeing that took a bad hit with its B max model before Covid, has managed to rebound and grow steadily. If there is anything to learn, it’s that stocks in general (even tourism industry stocks) may take temporary hits with global crises, but they will steadily ride out the storms back to profit. Tourism has been through a very rough spell, but the end is in site as vaccination roll out continues globally. But one thing is true. The businesses that can manage to reinvent themselves and diversify their offerings and services are the ones that will survive and be the leaders when tourism does get back on the wagon again. Investor Insight // Q1 - 2021 11