People still value leisure travel

People still value
leisure travel

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Leisure trips and travel spending are expected to continue modest growth through 2008, but travel preferences are changing, according to the Travel Industry Association’s annual forecast.

Travel spending by domestic and international visitors to the U.S. in 2008 is expected to increase 5.2 percent, to $778.2 billion, and the number of leisure trips taken domestically is projected to increase 2.5 percent for 2007 and 2 percent next year, TIA predicted.

Despite higher hotel room rates, higher gas prices and the hassles of flying, “people continue to value their leisure travel,” said Suzanne Cooke, TIA’s senior vice president of research.

But there are “changes in activity patterns,” Cooke said.

Cooke said that spas, the gaming industry, the cruise industry and sports-related tourism, such as trips related to NASCAR races, are among the leisure travel sectors that are doing well. In contrast, she said, “the trend over the last decade is that national parks are showing stagnant growth [in numbers of visitors]. Major historic properties have also had difficulties” attracting more guests.

International travel to the U.S., including visitors from Canada and Mexico, is expected to rise 3.7 percent in 2008 to 55.6 million visitors, after a projected 5.1 percent increase for 2007, the TIA said.

Plane ticket prices
drop 4.5 percent

WASHINGTON — The average price of a plane ticket on U.S. airlines fell 4.5 percent in the second quarter from year-ago levels, the government said.

The average price of a domestic roundtrip plane ticket fell to $326 in the second quarter, according to the Transportation Department’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics. That price was 5.8 percent below the all-time, second-quarter high of $346 hit in 2000, but was above the 2005 second-quarter average of $306.75.

Among major airports, the highest average fares were found in Cincinnati. Rounding out the top five were Anchorage, Alaska, Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C., Knoxville, Tenn., and Charleston, S.C.

The lowest fares were found at three Hawaii airports, followed by Dallas Love Field and Chicago Midway Airport.

UAL Corp.’s United Airlines raised roundtrip fares on nearly all of its domestic routes in mid-October and other major carriers followed suit. The airlines say they need to raise ticket prices to offset rising fuel costs, though analysts say the trend is also related to a shrinking availability of seats as carriers reduce capacity and passenger demand rises.

Fuel costs accounted for the largest piece of U.S. airlines’ operating expenses in the second quarter of 2007 at 25.4 percent, followed by labor costs at 23.6 percent, according to the Air Transport Association.

Alaska’s last elephant
moved to California

SAN ANDREAS, Calif. — You can see a lot of wildlife in Alaska — bears, whales, eagles, and more — but you won’t find any elephants there.

The state’s only elephant, Maggie, who spent nearly her whole life at the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage, has been moved to a new home in California, a sanctuary in San Andreas run by the Performing Animal Welfare Society. She has 30 acres there to share with nine other elephants.

Debate waged for years in Alaska about whether it was appropriate to keep an elephant in Anchorage, where winter temperatures dip to 20 degrees below zero. Calls to move Maggie increased after the zoo’s only other elephant, Annabelle, died of a foot infection in 1997, leaving Maggie alone. Elephant experts recommend that female elephants, which are very social, should be housed with other female elephants.