Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels reported that an increasing number of hotel investors are turning to Latin America for counter-cyclical investment opportunities. Hotel companies are researching market entrance strategies, conducting acquisition and new development due diligence, and analyzing future hotel demand in the 2014 FIFA Soccer World Cup candidate cities in Brazil.
PhoCusWright’s U.S. Online Travel Overview Eighth Edition presents sizing and forecasts of the U.S. total and online travel markets through 2010. Annual growth of the U.S. online leisure and unmanaged business travel market will slip to single digits in 2008. This marks the first time online travel growth has fallen below double digits since travel industry research authority PhoCusWright began tracking online travel in 1998.
Cruise lines, navigating a dreadful economy and tight-fisted consumers, are rolling out a bounty of bargain fares to fill their ships. With many deals matching the sort of deep discounting the industry resorted to in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, travel agents say cruising has become almost cheaper than staying home.
In light of current economic conditions and the impact on travel agents, Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Cruises have created an extraordinary support program expressly designed to help agents offset today’s business challenges. On the heels of suspending fuel supplements, the three brands today announced “ASAP,” or Agent Support Action Program.
Air France-KLM Group reported a net profit of 28 million euros ($35.4 million) for the July-September period, down 96 percent from 736 million euros a year earlier.
The Spanish owner of Argentina’s largest airline says it will sue if the Argentine government expropriates the carrier before reaching an agreement on its value. Vicente Munoz is the director of Madrid-based Grupo Marsans, which controls Aerolineas Argentinas and its subsidiary Austral.