Dr. Suzanne Cook, Senior Advisor to the U.S. Travel Association, and the most trusted source when it comes to understanding U.S. travel industry perofrmance recently sent out her April review to members. She covered everything from consumer confidence to air travel to business travel and more. Her message of the continued bumpy road to recovery was clear. The macroeconomic indicators continue to send mix signals with one month of employment growth and another of downwardly adjusted GDP growth. Consumers are still careful with their wallets as discretionary spending remains far below the pre-economic crisis levels. However, Dr. Cook also talked about areas of positive growth such as Q1 domestic enplanements up 2.0%, Q1 hotel room demand up 6.7%, Amtrak ridership up 7.6% in March, etc. Much of the growth is attributable to the return of business travel as this was the sector most hurt by the recession. In addition, international arrivals achieved its 16th straight month of growth for all U.S. arrivals. Click here to get more insight from Dr. Cook on current travel indicators.
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