Recovery road for US travel industry?
The US travel industry could be headed towards its best year since 9-11. Said the Los Angeles Times:
“Hotels are filling up. People are packing planes. Even Europeans are back, lured to the states by the cheap dollar. “
“In the post-9/11 world, everyone thought the sky was falling,” said Carl Winston, director of the Hospitality and Tourism Management program at San Diego State. “But in reality, the long-term health of this industry rises and falls with the economy.”
The story quoted The Travel Industry Association of America as saying in its annual forecast that people will spend $592.6 billion on travel in the U.S. this year, up 6.9% from 2003.
In fact, according to the forecast, for the first time since 2000, virtually every segment of the industry is seeing gains.
Another indicator was the American Express Company, which attributed a third-quarter profit hike to customers spending more on travel. The net income for the fourth-largest US credit card issuers was up 14%.
Many airlines continue to lose money, the report said, though domestic passenger volume is up almost 5% from a year ago.
Hotels, however, are having their best year since 2000, according to a spokesman for Smith Travel Research.
Revenue per available room is up 7.5% through the first nine months of this year nationally, he said.
Report by David Wilkening
David
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