So which is it: the travel industry is beginning to recover from the recession, or prices will continue to circle the bowl for the next 12 months?
Attendees at the U.S. Tour Operators Association annual meeting in Banff, Canada, this week are saying the future looks brighter. In fact, the past wasn't so awful, as we haven't seen a single USTOA tour operator go our of business in 2009, the association's president announced. The secret, of course, was slashing prices to the bone in a survival move, and then having the business resolution to cancel unfilled tours. Seventy-five percent of survey respondents of a USTOA member survey in November predicted prices will be lower next year than in 2009 by an average of 5 percent, according to Travel Weekly.
And yet, 20 percent of member operators surveyed said that business had already turned a corner. Nearly 70% predicted a turnaround in 2010; of those, more than 30% saw business picking up in the first quarter, nearly 25% predicted a second-quarter pickup and more than 10% said the turnaround would not occur until the third quarter. Only 15 percent don't see a recovery in 2010.
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Source - Uptake
