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Travel Industry News |
Wednesday December 3rd, 2008 |
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Expedia Travel Trendwatch Reports Vacationers are not Swayed by Negative Travel News |
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Americans are Perceived More Favorably Abroad than Expected |
Expedia.com(R) (NASDAQ:EXPE) introduced the latest issue of its quarterly report, Expedia Travel Trendwatch(TM). In it, Expedia found that travelers are taking the tough summer season in stride as their desire for relaxing and restorative vacations outweighs the potential delays or problems that can occur during peak travel season.
In fact, a July Expedia.com poll (1) found 68 percent of U.S. adults who have taken or plan to take a summer vacation this year will not modify their vacation plans because of negative news around air travel hassles and rising prices.
Additionally, an Expedia.de poll of hoteliers across Europe found Americans to be overall good tourists exhibiting such traits as generosity and willingness to try local cuisine. On the flip side, we received poor marks for our fashion sense, hotel room cleanliness and being very noisy. To view the complete report, please visit www.expediatraveltrendwatch.com.
"It's encouraging to see that despite the tough travel environment, vacationers are still hitting the roads and skies this summer," said Chris McGinnis, editor, Expedia Travel Trendwatch. "The tradition of summer vacation remains ingrained in the American psyche and travelers are rolling with the punches this year. They are finding some surprises like lower airfares, warm welcomes overseas and new tools like user-generated content sites to help make better travel decisions."
Key travel trends and data as reported in the current issue of the Expedia Travel Trendwatch(TM) include:
1) Summer travel update; air, hotel, cruise and car rentals
* Airfares to some major markets have gone down year-over-year and tighter domestic growth could mean fewer discounts in the near term, but capacity growth on international routes bodes well for shoulder-season or off-peak discounting this fall or winter.
* Vacationers are grappling with high hotel rates in most markets however; savvy shoppers are relying on user generated content on sites such as TripAdvisor.com to help make wise accommodation choices. Similarly, Expedia.com recently introduced the Insider's Select list of the world's best hotels as rated by Expedia.com travelers and the organization's own destination experts.
* Airline stress is triggering many cruise-goers to arrive in port a day early to ensure they don't hit trouble and miss their scheduled departure and more cruise lines are offering Caribbean itineraries that start and end in the middle of the week to help avoid weekend bottlenecks at airports and in port cities.
* Car rental rates remain flat to slightly up year-over-year compared to last summer according to Expedia.com data and higher gas prices are not affecting the choice of car size.
2) Americans are perceived abroad more favorably than they imagined ... except for their fashion sense.
* According to a July Expedia.com poll(2), nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of U.S. adults think that American tourists traveling abroad are perceived more negatively than they were five years ago. The same poll found Americans believe that Europeans perceive them as spoiled, self-centered and loud when traveling abroad. However ...
* A separate poll of European hotel managers conducted by Expedia.de ranked Americans as second only to the Japanese in its study to find the world's "best tourists." Hotel managers praised Americans as being great tippers, willing to try local cuisine, will to speak the language and generous travelers overall.
* The same survey ranked Americans at the bottom in terms of our fashion sense finding shell suits (ie. sweat suits) and white socks with sandals to be inappropriate fashion choices. We are also considered loud, but slightly less so than the Italians.
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