Ride-sharing gaining popularity
Ride-sharing gaining popularity
Ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft are gaining popularity among business travelers, but they still take a back seat to rental cars.
That was the conclusion of a study by Maine-based Certify, a software company for business expense management that looked at 8.5 million expense reports filed in the July-through-September quarter.
Over that reporting period, business travelers used car-rental services 44 percent of the time and ride-sharing services 34 percent of the time, followed by taxis 22 percent of the time, the study reported.
Still, ride-sharing services have gained ground on rental cars as the preferred mode of transportation among business travelers. In the first three months of 2014, ride sharing was the preferred way to getting around only 8 percent of the time among business travelers.
Geography quiz
Q. Most cruises to the Antarctic depart from this South American port.
A. Ushuaia, Argentina. From there it’s a two-day crossing of the Drake Passage, which many agree has the roughest seas in the world.
Thailand forecasts record visitors
BANGKOK
A deadly bombing in August threatened to scuttle Thailand’s economically crucial tourism industry but officials are now forecasting more than 30 million visitors this year as arrivals from China swell.
The bounce back reinforces the teflon reputation of Thai tourism, which has thrived over the past decade despite two coups, episodes of deadly street fighting, airport occupations and natural disasters.
Thailand’s tourism council is forecasting a record 30.3 million visitors this year, an increase of 22 percent from last year. Chinese tourists are expected to total 8.1 million, rising by three quarters from 2014.
Only a small number of countries attract more than 30 million tourists a year, among them France, China, the United States, Spain and Turkey.
Thailand was aiming for 28.8 million tourists this year.
Tour operators say Thailand’s resilience reflects the variety it offers from high-end shopping in busy Bangkok to idyllic beaches in the south and laid back small cities in the north.
Charlotte tourism
CHARLOTTE, N.C.
As the industry sets records, business is booming at hotels in the largest city in the Carolinas although convention business is down.
The Charlotte Observer reports that a key indicator of industry health – revenue per available room – should be $75 this year in Mecklenburg County. It was less than $58 in 2007 before the Great Recession.
And room occupancy is now about 72 percent, the highest it’s been since 2007.
The average daily rate at hotels in the county is also expected to surpass $100 for the first time this year. It was $91 in 2008.
Combined dispatches