Is ailing travel market getting better?
The ailing travel industry earlier this year appeared to be on the mend but there remain signs that the patient may still face some setbacks before the recovery is permanent.
"We started the year very, very well and very strongly—up about 15 percent in revenue, most of that was in occupancy… but the summer slowed down a little bit," said John Scott, president and CEO of Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, in an interview with CNBC.
Rosewood operates luxury properties, including The Carlyle Hotel in New York, and resorts in the Caribbean. Scott says the company’s business is primarily driven by leisure travel.
"We were still getting fairly strong bookings from the Northeast," he said. "It was awfully hot there in New York, and the rest of the Northeast, but the summer slowed down."
There’s widespread speculation that weakened demand is due to travelers taking advantage of a stronger dollar who are opting for Europe as a destination, or is a reflection of more cautious conusmers.
One positive sign for Rosewood is that room bookings for 2011 are looking good, according to Scott.
But travelers across the board, including the affluent, remains very focused on value, Scott added.
Another factor may be higher airfares to the Caribbean, which may be hurting the tourist economy there.
Stephen Bartolin, the president and CEO of The Broadmoor, also said consumers are still price conscious but that luxury property in Colorado Springs has been helped by an improved leisure market.
"Leisure has literally saved us this year in this economy," Bartolin said.
Bartolin also said companies are experiencing a "sense of uncertainty" given expected changes in health care and taxes, among other things.
The U.S. tourism industry has a lot of losses to make up for when consumers start opening their wallets.
The Commerce Department puts the amount by which the industry shrank at a rate of 15.4 percent in the first quarter compared to last year.
By David Wilkening
David
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