Asia eclipsed North America as the world’s largest aviation market, last year. Some 647 million air travelers — more than a quarter of the 2.2 billion passengers who flew worldwide — took to the skies in Asia in 2009, compared to the 638 million air travelers in North America, hitherto...

Not all spending cuts are smart cuts.When companies reduce their travel budgets, there are negative consequences in lost revenue and profit growth and terms of giving competition a distinct advantage. A new study that for the first time measures the return on investment of business travel finds the...

The Country Brand Index (CBI) released by FutureBrand reveals that the United States is the world’s top country brand for the first time in five years since the Index was launched, rising from third spot in 2008. Yet it has not resulted in greater overseas travel to the country, and 2009 was the...

There is a lesson for all tourism destinations in the elimination of Chicago as a possible host of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) despite President Barack Obama’s high profile personal appeal in Copenhagen. The IOC rejected Chicago in the very first...

The U.S. Travel Association has successfully concluded its third annual Trade Mission to India, which brought double the number of senior executives from U.S. destinations and travel suppliers as last year to meet with Indian travel agents.

The creative juices of tourism marketers are overflowing as they work overtime to find unusual ways to attract travelers to destinations which until recently had depended on traditional marketing methods to get their messages across.  The new global trends in cost-effective tourism marketing focus on...

World tourism has suffered a sharp drop of -8% in the first four months of the year. The number of international tourist arrivals reached 247 million between January and April, down 22 million from the volume of 269 million recorded last year, according to the World Tourism Barometer. Tourism is seriously...

Americans are expected to take 322 million domestic leisure trips this summer according to a forecast by the US Travel Association (USTA).   They will take an average of two trips, stay about seven nights away from home and spend more than $900 on the longest trip. Do you know where the favorite...

Bigger Piece of a Smaller Pie by Lakshman Ratnapala Despite terrorist wars and economic woes assailing the nation and the world, there is one bright spot in the Bay Area economy – tourism to San Francisco.   More visitors left their hearts – and their money – in San Francisco in 2008, than in...

United States Capitol (photo by April Orcutt) The travel industry employs 7.7 million Americans, generates more than $740 billion in spending annually and will play a critical role in driving America’s economic recovery.  To discuss this unique role that travel can play in strengthening the American...