Winging It: Cutting back on summer travel plans

Whether the travel business is getting better, worse, or holding its own these days depends upon whom you ask - and lately, lots of folks seem to have been asking.

In just two days last week, I received the results of three studies - one on travelers' summer vacation plans, another on the effect of the recession on business-travel costs, and a third on overall travel-planning trends. Each study provides an insight or two into the current state of affairs.

On Friday, the Air Transport Association, the major U.S. airlines trade group, estimated that there would be 7 percent, or seven million, fewer passengers this summer when compared with 2008.

Even if fewer people fly, the report on vacation plans provides perspective on how people feel about their time off. It was based on a survey of consumers by the U.S. Travel Association, an umbrella group of industry organizations, which indicates that the dismal economy isn't going to keep most of us from taking a vacation of some sort.

The 2,250 people surveyed said they expected to take 2.2 percent fewer leisure trips this summer than they did last year. Roughly equal numbers of travelers said they planned to either spend more nights or fewer nights away from home this summer.

The effect of the recession is clear in some of the results. Almost half of the travelers surveyed said that they would not plan their vacation more than two months in advance, and that they are doing a lot of bargain-hunting online.

Many people plan to take more day trips or long weekend getaways instead of weeklong vacations - a trend that isn't good for many resort areas but that helps Philadelphia and other areas that draw visitors from their regions.

The business-travel study was done by Egencia, a unit of Expedia Inc., the online travel agency, and it shows how much costs have fallen this year from 2008 in major cities worldwide, including Philadelphia. Those who have booked air travel and hotel rooms recently won't be surprised by the declines.

Average airline-ticket prices in the first quarter were down by single-digit percentages in most big U.S. cities, except those in the Northeast. In Philadelphia, Boston, and New York, ticket prices were down 15 percent, the research found.

Egencia president Rob Greyber said that after making deep cuts last fall and winter, some airlines had added back flights to their schedules for this summer, which should keep downward pressure on ticket prices.

Average daily rates for a hotel room also were down, with the declines ranging from 1 percent in Houston to 20 percent in New York, Egencia found. Philadelphia hotel rates were down 8 percent, close to the national average.

In contrast to air and hotel costs, car-rental prices have been increasing sharply this year, up 10 to 20 percent, a result of higher costs for rental companies for inventory and financing, Egencia said.

(Indeed, I recently considered renting a car for two days in the Washington area, until realizing it could cost almost $200, including gas, twice what I paid last winter.)

The third study was done by PhoCusWright, a travel-industry research firm, which also surveyed travelers and found that the boomer population, aged 45 to 64, was more likely than younger people to cut their spending this year. Twenty-five to 34-year-olds are spending the most per household on travel this year, the research showed.

While PhoCusWright didn't hazard a guess why that's true, I suspect boomers are spending less in part because they're closer to retirement and have become more focused on saving money as their 401(k) accounts have shrunk.

Philly stars. Ceremonies to honor people who do exemplary work occur every day, so you don't see much coverage of them. But I thought it was important to note that the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau last week gave its "5-Star Service Awards" to five Philadelphia International Airport workers for making life more pleasant for travelers.

The winners were:

Mary Harrower, a Parkway Corp. information-counter worker, who stayed past the 11 p.m. end of her shift to help a woman worried about her 94-year-old mother, who was arriving from Germany via Canada.

Kadiatu Kargbo, manager of the Guava & Java coffee shop, who uses a smile and friendly manner to ask customers where they're traveling.

Cedric Babb, an airport information-services supervisor, who helped a woman find a lost wallet that contained her passport, travel documents, and more.

Carol Burke, an operations agent for Southwest Airlines, who makes it a point to smile at every customer she comes in contact with.

Linda Savage, a US Airways operations analyst and former flight attendant, who was a passenger on a Allentown-Philadelphia US Airways Express flight that had to make an emergency landing when the plane's nose wheel wouldn't deploy. Savage quietly volunteered to help the newly hired Express flight attendant prepare the cabin and evacuate passengers after the successful landing.