Business Travel is Up, but Frugality Still Rules
from USA Today
 Businesses will send more people out on the road next year, making up for lost time during the recession, when travel budgets were slashed and corporate trekkers mostly stayed put, corporate travel managers say. But the frugality that took hold in the economic downturn will continue, they say. Companies will opt for coach over more expensive first-class airline tickets.
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NEW Study on the Drive Market
Often overshadowed by air travel, the drive market has economic impact throughout the journey -- with travelers stopping at small towns, attractions, restaurants, gas stations, and hotels, generating revenue throughout their trip.
U.S. Travel Association reports this is 85% of all travel in the U.S. Project 85 is the first study to segment this market, identifying who is the most valuable for destinations and travel providers.
The study is being conducted jointly by Solutionz (Solutionz.com) and Mandala Research (MandalaResearch.com).
For information contact Laura@MandalaResearch.com or 703.798.5452.
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US Inbound Travel Reaches Priority Status
from Hotel News Now
With millions of jobs possibly on the line, it’s time for the U.S. to get serious about attracting visitors from other countries. And while the Travel Promotion Act that was passed earlier this year is a big step forward, panelists at the International Society of Hospitality Consultants’ annual convention said there’s still much to be done. Part of the solution is the creation of thePresident’s Export Council that serves President Obama and includes Richard Friedman, an hotelier from Massachusetts. Another part is the creation of a travel promotion board that serves under the Export Council’s umbrella and includes Caroline Beteta, president and CEO of theCalifornia Travel and Tourism Commission.
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CVBs Work to Show the Value of Tourism and Meetings
from Meetings Focus
When the economy put the damper on her 2010 marketing budget, Connie Del Signore, president and CEO of the Annapolis & Anne Arundel County CVB, found inspiration from a partnership model established several years ago by the CVBs of Pittsburgh, Portland, Ore., and Milwaukee. "They had been quite successful, and gave me the idea of contacting Newport [R.I.] to discuss combining our efforts," Del Signore says. "As destinations we have many similarities like maritime heritage, East Coast location and so on."
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Air Travelers Found to Lose Billions to Delays
from The Washington Post
There is now a dollar amount to put on the collective rage of U.S. airline passengers over flight delays: $16.7 billion. That's the annual cost to fliers when planes don't run on time, according to researchers who delivered a report Monday to the Federal Aviation Administration detailing the economic price of domestic flight delays. The total cost to passengers, airlines and other parts of the economy is $32.9 billion, according to the FAA-commissioned report.
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Amtrak Sets Ridership Record
from Travel Weekly
Amtrak set ridership and revenue records in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30. Amtrak carried 28.7 million passengers, a 5.7 percent increase. Ticket revenue increased 9 percent to over $1.74 billion. The biggest gains occurred outside the Northeast Corridor, where ridership rose a more modest 4.3 percent. On long-distance trains, ridership was up 6.6 percent and ticket revenue was up 10.3 percent. On short-distance and state-supported routes, ridership was up 6.5 percent and ticket revenue rose 12.6 percent.
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USTA Bets Big on India
from Express Travel World
In effort to create interest in India as a source market, the U.S. Travel Association (USTA) brought down to India a delegation of 16 travel and tourism related bodies from America. Headed by Bryan Lewis, chief of staff and general counsel, USTA who also informed that while US did not have an organized tourism plan and body, the Travel Promotion Act which was passed in March 2010 will change the situation.
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New Scanner Aims to Make Liquids on Planes Safer
from The Associated Press via the Anchorage Daily News
The latest airport security technology being developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory could open the door for airline passengers to bring their soft drinks and full-size shampoo bottles on board again. Homeland security officials put the latest generation of the bottled liquid scanner to the test Wednesday during a demonstration at Albuquerque's international airport. Everything from bottled water and champagne to shampoo and pink liquid laxatives were scanned to make sure explosives weren't hiding inside.
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Resorts, Restaurants Bouncing Back from 'Summer that Wasn't'
from The Orlando Sentinel
Full houses are the norm for hotels along Pensacola Beach during the crucial summer months, but the summer of 2010 was anything but normal. A busted oil well owned by BP PLC spewed crude into the Gulf of Mexico from April to July, and Pensacola's tourism-based economy tanked as the oil threatened and then came ashore along Florida's western Panhandle. As a result, beachfront hotels reported year-over-year drops in revenue ranging from 12 percent to 29 percent during the high-season months of June, July and August, according to figures compiled by the Santa Rosa Island Authority, which leases the land to hotels, restaurants and other businesses.
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Air Travel Report: Dip in Delays, Spike in Complaints
from CNN
A consumer air travel report shows a steep dip in tarmac delays, improvements in on-time performance and baggage handling and, despite that encouraging news, a spike in passenger complaints. Complaints about airline service were up nearly 35 percent in August 2010, compared with the same month in 2009. The Department of Transportation received 1,200 complaints, compared with 891 during the same month in 2009, according to a report on August airline performance released Tuesday by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
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