Travel Industry News Archive for 2003

According to the Travel Industry Association of America’s (TIA) Winter 2003-2004 Travelometer forecast, Americans will take 213.4 million person-trips this winter season (December, January and February), an increase of 2.3 percent over last winter. A person-trip is one person on one trip traveling 50 miles or more from home, one way.

A senior British Airways executive once referred to Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson as ‘the smiling pullover’. One wonders what term BA attaches to its other controversial archrival, Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary.

It's that time of year again when we start talking and thinking about New Year's Resolutions even though they're old hat and we instinctively know they don't work.

AAA reports that Christmas-New Year's holiday travel should increase by more than two percent from 2002. An estimated 59.6 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home this holiday, up 2.4 percent from the 58.2 million who traveled last year.

Dublin based Hostelworld.com has been recognised as one of the best sites in the E-business category in the World Summit Awards held in Geneva last week.

Spending by travelers accounts for approximately 50 percent of revenues at restaurants with an average check of $25 or more, according to the 2004 Restaurant & Foodservice Market Research Handbook.

South Africa's tourism industry was currently under pressure from a number of negative factors, the most significant of which was the lack of airline capacity, according to Helder Pereira, managing director of Southern Sun Hotels, the largest hotel group in the southern hemisphere.

Tourism needs to be put firmly on the agenda of current international trade talks

Orbitz, Inc. announced today that the initial public offering of 12,180,000 shares of its Class A common stock was priced at $26.00 per share, for a total offering of $316,680,000.

Another strong month of cruise and tour bookings - both up 10 percent from 2002 levels - pushed AAA's overall travel bookings to a 3 percent increase this November compared to a year ago.