Time for a Smile

Think you know better than the experts? Wonder how expert they really are? You may be right, and you'll certainly enjoy The Experts Speak: The Definitive Compendium of Authoritative Misinformation (Revised Edition) by Victor S. Navasky and Christopher Cerf, published by Random House. Here are a few entertaining samples:

"Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau." -- Irving Fisher, professor of economics at Yale University, October 17, 1929

"Forget it, Louis, no Civil War picture ever made a nickel." -- Irving Thalberg's warning to Louis B. Mayer regarding Gone With the Wind

"We don't like their sound. Groups of guitars are on the way out." -- Decca Recording Company executive, turning down the Beatles, 1962

"With over fifty foreign cars already on sale here the Japanese auto industry isn't likely to carve out a big share of the market for itself."-- Business Week, 1968

"There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home." -- President of Digital Equipment Corporation, 1977

Travel Trends

Over 200 million Americans online: Nielsen/NetRatings reports that "nearly 75 percent of Americans have access to the Internet from home. In comparison, Internet access penetration hovered around 66 percent in February 2003, rising nine percentage points year-over-year." A recent Pew Research Center study found that "73 percent of American adults use a computer either at work, at school or at home. About 128 million of those use the Internet." Another Pew Study broke down Internet usage by age: "22% of Americans age 65 or older reported having access to the Internet; 58% of Americans age 50-64, 75% of 30-49 year-olds, and 77% of 18-29 year-olds currently go online." Pew Research also estimates that over 21 million are now using wireless (Wi-Fi) connections to access the Internet.

Continued growth in online travel: More than 35 million Americans purchased travel online last year, up 17 percent from 2002, according to the independent travel research firm PhoCusWright Inc., while 19 million more researched destinations or prices there. Forrester Research reports that the Internet is expected to generate nearly $53 billion in leisure travel bookings alone -- nearly 22 percent of the travel industry's revenues. And these folks are using the Internet for their travel plans: according to a recent Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown & Russell survey, about 63% of leisure travelers and 69% of business travelers now use the Internet to plan some aspect of travel. PriceWaterhouseCoopers expects Internet hotel bookings to double its share of total lodging demand through 2005, increasing from 13% in 2003 to 24% in 2005.

The news from London is the same: Brand Republic reports that "visits to travel-related websites have increased by 27% in the last 12 months with the future outlook looking buoyant as more and more consumers turn to the web to organize their travel."

Highlights from the: American Hotel & Lodging Association

Generation X (adults ages 24-38) is rapidly approaching Baby Boomers (adults ages 39-58) in travel spending.
Personal automobiles remain the top mode of transportation in 2004 (78%) compared to 2003 (81%).
Thirty-seven percent of consumers expressed that the current economic conditions make it difficult to travel, eclipsing security concerns immediately following Sept. 11, 2001.
Consumer use of travel research and booking through the Internet is increasing rapidly. Online hotel bookings will increase by 30 percent from $1.27 billion in 2003 to $1.66 billion in 2005.

Vacation deprivation A recent study by Harris Interactive and Expedia documented the fact that "at least 30 percent of employed adults give up vacation time they've earned. In the process, Americans who receive annual vacation are handing back 415 million vacation days to their employers. On average, every employed American misses out on three days of vacation, up 50 percent from the two days they each forfeited in 2003(1). Results also suggest that "working vacations" are standard, with a third of respondents (32%) checking office voicemail or email while away on holiday." […] No matter how hard it is to get away, most of us agree it's worth it -- 65 percent of respondents say they come back feeling rested, rejuvenated, and reconnected with family and friends after vacation.

Hotel habits survey Orbitz recently surveyed hotel guests to learn that "we throw our towels on the floor, we eat in bed and we leave the television blaring when we're not in the room. We sneak things into - and out of - our rooms, and we don't always tip. […] This summer, nearly three out of five of people who have ever stayed in a hotel for leisure (59%) plan to do so again."

Add low-carb getaways for fat profits? According to a new report from The Media Audit, "the percentage of adults who diet at least 4 weeks a year has increased from 20.9 in 1998 to 22.7 in 2001 and 24.2 in 2003." Dieters have money to spend on travel: "Approximately 16.5 percent of dieters have incomes of $100,000 plus compared to 13.5 percent of all adults."

TIA Forecasts Strongest Spring Travel Since 2001: According to the Travel Industries Association of America (TIA) spring 2004 travel forecast, "Americans will take 270.2 million person-trips during March, April and May 2004, an increase of 3.3 percent over last spring. The overall forecast calls for the strongest spring travel season since the spring of 2001. […] As evidence that business travel is finally starting to recover, TIA's forecast calls for a 5 percent hike in business and convention travel volume this spring compared to spring 2003. American business travelers plan on taking nearly 45 million business person-trips this spring, representing the highest number of business trips since spring of 2001.

International travel on the rise: A recent article in USA Today reported significant increases in international travel from the U.S. to Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean, with smaller increases noted to Asia and Australia. "Driving demand is a strong rebound in business travel brought by a resurgent economy. It helps also that American vacationers, who a year ago fretted about war, terrorism and SARS, are now determined to go abroad." In addition to increasing capacity, there's been an upsurge of new routes involving such cities as Portland, OR, and Cincinnati, OH.

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