FORT LAUDERDALE — The U.S. travel market this year will fully recover ground lost during the recession, but in 2012 there will be a slowdown, according to new research from PhoCusWright.
The travel market will reach $277 billion, surpassing 2006 levels, according to PhoCusWrights’s U.S. Online Travel Overview, eleventh edition.
Corporate travel has continued its rebound, and online leisure and unmanaged business travel will maintain double-digit growth this year, the report found.
Discussing the findings at PhoCusWright’s annual conference, the research company said that despite the positive finds, 2012 and beyond is “clouded with uncertainty.” 
“Do not let travel’s impressive performance in 2011 mask some concerning underlying trends,” said Douglas Quinby, PhoCusWright's senior director of research. “The gains have largely been fueled by the corporate travel rebound and tight airline capacity. The leisure environment overall is soft, and continued high unemployment and consumer pessimism over the state of the economy make for a challenging outlook for 2012.”
The report found that economic pressures will slow online travel growth to single-digits gains.
“In 2012, we’ll see some slowdown from the ramifications of macroeconomic issues,” said PhoCusWright analyst Carroll Rheem. “We’ll see weakness in terms of the pick-up and the trajectory of growth we’ll see in 2012.”
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