Citi: Passenger traffic in the first three days of the National Day Golden Week is in line with expectations; consumption patterns are relatively rational; more bullish on Atour Lifestyle Holdings Ltd. Sponsored ADR (ATAT.US) and HWORLD-S (01179)

Citi released a research report stating that China's national passenger traffic was roughly flat from October 1 to 3, in line with the bank's expectations. As the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day Golden Week were close together, the bank had earlier expected that some travel demand may have been released ahead of schedule in late September, potentially diluting performance during the Golden Week. The bank continues to see resilient leisure travel demand during this holiday, though consumption patterns are expected to remain relatively rational. The bank noted that the longer holiday is driving more medium- and long-distance travel demand, which it believes should benefit hotel operators' overall booking volumes, though pricing may struggle to shine given the segmented holiday period. National passenger traffic from October 1 to 3 edged down 0.4% year over year, with declines of 1.9%, a rise of 1.2%, and a decline of 0.4% on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, respectively; over the same period, railway/aviation/self-driving passenger traffic rose 7.7%, fell 1.4%, and fell 2.1% year over year, respectively. Hainan offshore duty-free sales from October 1 to 3 rose 8.85% year over year to RMB 358 million, mainly driven by a 12.9% year-over-year increase in the number of shoppers, though per-capita spending fell 4% year over year. The bank is more bullish on Atour Lifestyle Holdings Ltd. Sponsored ADR (ATAT.US) and HWORLD-S (01179). The bank gave Atour Lifestyle Holdings Ltd. Sponsored ADR a target price of US$49 with a "Buy" rating; H World Group Limited Sponsored ADR a Hong Kong stock target price of HK$47 and H World Group Limited Sponsored ADR (HTHT.US) a US stock target price of US$59, both with "Buy" ratings.