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In 2020, the travel and hospitality stocks were some of those hardest hit in the March coronavirus sell-off.

They remained somewhat depressed until November 2020, when Pfizer announced it had a vaccine that was over 90% effective and that it would be rolling it out by the end of 2020.

Now in 2021, there is the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and the FDA is apparently close to authorizing the Johnson & Johnson vaccine as well.

There could be over 400 million doses of the vaccine available in the United States by July if all things go according to plan.

And many expect that to unleash pent-up travel demand.

Already, hotels and airlines, are seeing a change in consumer behavior.

Consumers are apparently looking at trips 3 to 6 months out. And they’re even booking airline tickets for 2 months out whereas, in 2020, they were booking just days to 2 weeks out.

Should You Be Buying the Travel Stocks?

Hospitality companies will be big beneficiaries of the reopening.

But Wall Street has already been betting on it.

The hotel and OTA stocks have all soared.

1.  Playa Hotels & Resorts (PLYA - Free Report) operates 21 all-inclusive hotels in Mexico, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic. Shares have soared 84% in the last 6 months.

2.  Hersha Hospitality Trust (HT - Free Report) operates 40 high quality hotels in urban gateways and resort destinations such as Miami Beach, Key West, and Santa Barbara. Shares are up 92% in the last 6 months.

3.  Expedia (EXPE - Free Report) which operates red-hot VRBO, is hitting 5-year highs. Shares are up 75.3% in the last 6 months.

4.  TripAdvisor (TRIP - Free Report) is expected to see positive earnings in 2021 with the Zacks Consensus looking for $0.40 versus a loss of $1.24 in 2020. Shares are up 127% in the last 6 months.

5.  Royal Caribbean Group (RCL - Free Report) is one of the favorite re-open stocks. Shares are up 57% over the last 6 months but are still down 8.9% over the last year.