Travel IPOs to Watch for in 2021

Investor enthusiasm for initial public offerings hit records in 2020, with the most listings in the U.S. since 1999. Euphoria about Airbnb's debut as a public company in December may benefit other travel startups, such as Turo, Yanolja, Traveloka, Gett, Vacasa, Sonder, TripActions, Tujia, SiteMinder, and FlixMobility, which appear to be considering stock market debuts in 2021 or 2022. A handful of travel startups as a category may eye potential public listings in 2021 as a way to shore up their finances during the crisis. Recent pandemic-related underperformance may not turn off all investors. "In the travel sector, investors pay attention both to short-term losses due to the Covid 19-related drop in travel, but also future profit potential," said Jay Ritter, a finance professor at the University of Florida's Warrington College of Business. Yet most travel companies have seen their profitability wilt during the pandemic. That means they lack the impressive growth rebound that Airbnb could show investors. "It's very unlikely we will see many — if any — travel IPOs this year, given how badly the sector has been hit by coronavirus," said Adam Vettese, a London-based analyst at multi-asset investment platform eToro. "Airbnb was very much an exception." "I can't see many other travel firms taking the risk while passenger numbers are so low and the prospects of a quick return to full capacity look so slim," Vettese said. "At the moment, the travel sector is a play for investors hunting a heavily-discounted bargain and who believe the sector will take-off again once large swathes of the global population have been vaccinated." One possible near-term exception may be travel startups that are technology plays. Tujia, sometimes referred to as China's discount version of Airbnb, might go public this year for reasons like Airbnb's. Tujia, which has disclosed raising more than $755 million in venture capital, might seek an initial public offering later this year as a way to raise cash to compete with Airbnb (marketed in China as Aibiying). "Tech has been the undoubted winner from this crisis and continues to confound those who believe that it is a bubble ready to burst," Vettese said. Another possible exception is companies that find a roundabout way to the market. The U.S. IPO market is getting a boost from a wave of special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), or blank check companies, which are shell companies with no operations but ar