Arnie Weissmann: U.S. Travel’s Geoff Freeman says travel alternatives are costing the industry billions. 12
IN OTHER NEWS:
6
7
8
Rebecca Tobin:
Finding a Japan specialist to help
plan a November trip turned out
to be surprisingly difficult. 60
www.travelweekly.com
Section 1 of 2
THE NATIONAL NEWSPAPER OF THE TRAVEL INDUSTRY
OCTOBER 10, 2011
Bhutan
rolls out the welcome mat
A remote and isolated ‘bucket list’
destination of surpassing beauty aims
to issue 100,000 visas next year.
Report and photos by Arnie Weissmann
Despite rising airfares, bad economy,
cruise sellers optimistic about 2012
By Donna Tunney
While cruise agents around the country generally describe themselves as upbeat and optimistic about 2012 bookings, several caveats
are attached to their
declarations, most
having to do with economic unknowns.
Looking back a
year, Edith Salter of
Tampa-based Bowen
Travel Service recalled
that she had “a bunch
of groups” booked on
various cruises in 2011.
“Half of them ended up canceling,” she
said, due to circumstances unforeseen when
they plopped down their deposits last fall.
“I don’t think that’s going to be the case,
at least I hope not, with the bookings I have
now,” she said. “But my clients continue to be
very concerned about the economy. They’re
not spending as much, not getting the ocean-
view cabin. But they’re still going.”
Carnival, Disney and Crystal are attracting
her clients these days,
she said, but airfares
and airline fees are
not.
‘My clients are not spend-
ing as much, not getting
the oceanview cabin. But
they’re still going.’
[ AIRLINES SEEK TRANSPARENCY IN AGENCY OWNERSHIP ]
ARC, looking to modernize, asks
agents for accreditation advice
By Johanna Jainchill
As the enterprise today known
as ARC pushes 50, it’s looking to
modernize its accreditation system
for the first time since airline deregulation in the 1980s.
Over the next three months, ARC will
solicit and collect ideas for bringing it into
sync with the realities of the airline and retail
travel industries, both of which have evolved
substantially in five decades.
Mike Premo, who took over as ARC’s CEO
in June, acknowledged that the enterprise
has “fallen behind the times” in being able to
offer airlines transparency about the owner-
ship structure of the travel agencies that sell
their tickets.
