BULLETINS

Everyone knows that 2009 was bad for Travel Industry. But there is hope and 2010 is expected to be better even though there could be pressures on pricing. Here are some excerpts from leading think tanks to cheer you up. You can get the reports from their respective web sites.

The Annual Survey result from TripAdvisor says - Americans expect to travel more in 2010 than in 2009. Forty-one percent of U.S. respondents said they plan to spend more on leisure travel in 2010 than they did in 2009 and 92 percent of travelers are planning to take two or more leisure trips in 2010, up from 89 percent last year.

According to the American Express Global Business Travel Forecast, A prolonged period of weak demand in the travel industry depressed prices across travel categories in 2009, most notably in hotel, which as an industry cannot reduce capacity as well as airlines and car rental companies. Following this weakened demand in 2009, American Express Business Travel expects a pent up need for travel and meetings to be unleashed in 2010.

PhoCusWright's U.S. Online Travel Overview Ninth Edition reveals key trends affecting the recovery of the U.S. travel market. The recovery will likely be slow, bringing only incremental improvements over several years. As a result, PhoCusWright projects very modest growth of 1% for the total travel market in 2010, as consumers and corporations gradually increase their travel spending. Online travel will continue to benefit from its positioning as a discount and distressed-inventory channel amid soft overall demand and a weak pricing environment for travel suppliers, especially hotels. Online travel will grow 5% in 2010, far outpacing the total market.

The National Business Travel Association (NBTA) has issued the 2010 U.S. Business Travel Buyers’ Cost Forecast report to its members. The report says businesses are expected to travel a lot more, with air travel and car rental costs expected to remain nearly flat and hotel rates expected to decline by upto 8%.