A record year for travel expected in 2024, says Webjet boss John Guscic

Webjet has powered to a strong half-year profit and its managing director predicts Australians will be travelling in record numbers in 2024.

Travel booking site Webjet has credited the insatiable appetite for travel and improved technology for a massive jump in profit for the six months to September 30.

The company reported an underlying profit for the first half of $82.5m, up from $36.4m in the same period last year, and a statutory profit of $53.5m, up from $4.2m.

Earnings before interest and tax soared to $102.1m from $72.6m, and were expected to reach between $180m and $190m for the full year.

Hotel booking site WebBeds was again the standout for the group, with half-year earnings up 23 per cent on pre-Covid levels at $89.9m, and 41 per cent higher than last year.

Webjet OTA was still trailing 2019 levels due to airline capacity restraints, and rental car and motorhome business Go See was also recovering, albeit slowly.

However, Webjet managing director John Guscic said bookings continued to grow in every market but the Middle East, and 2024 was shaping up to be significant.

“As more airlines come back on board and we get closer to pre-pandemic airline capacity we will be the beneficiary at Webjet because we’re outperforming on the international recovery,” Mr Guscic said.

“We’re expecting the rebound that we’ve seen in the summer of 2022 and 2023 will accelerate into 2024. Every major tourism destination is expecting record numbers in calendar year 2024.”

Travel in 2024 is predicted to reach record levels. Picture: AFP

Although there had been some drop-off in travel bookings out of the Middle East and Europe due to the conflict in Israel, Ms Guscic was not expecting any impact on northern summer travel.

He said forward bookings indicated the number of Australians heading to Europe between June and September 2024 would be even greater than this year.

“Leisure travel is not a discretionary item. It’s baked into people’s expectations and travel will continue to be circa 8 to 9 per cent of overall budget spend,” Mr Guscic said.

“We’re seeing no slowdown of aggregate demand on a global basis. We’re seeing continued growth, even in the markets of Europe that I described as slowing down. They’re not going backwards, they’re just not growing as fast as they were two months ago.”

Behind the scenes, Webjet was continuing to update its technology to make the planning and booking process easier for customers.

Mr Guscic said the acquisition of software company Trip Ninja during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic meant consumers could now book multi-city trips with ease and make significant savings on price.

“Travel tech is peppered with legacy tech platforms which make cobbling together results challenging at the best of times,” he said.

“One of the strengths we’ve had as a business is we’ve been able to bring together disparate technology and make it digestible for the consumer and this is the next step of that evolution – giving consumers greater choice, and in this case a price advantage two thirds of the time.”

A “pipeline of improvements” for the business was in store for 2024, Mr Guscic said.

He noted Webjet had cemented its position as Australia’s number one online travel agency, with a 54 per cent lift in market share since the pandemic.

Analysts questioned whether the full-year guidance might be conservative, given the strength of Webjet’s balance sheet and issued a “buy” recommendation for the company’s shares.

In morning trade on the ASX, Webjet shares slipped 2c to $6.59.