The travel industry appears to be in the
midst of the best winter travel season in the past five years.
According to the
Travel Industry Associations Winter 2004 forecast, travelers are
expected to take 243.3 million trips of 50 miles or more one-way
from home (person trips) during December, January and February.
Thats up 2.6% from the 237.1 million person trips taken in the same
months last year.
Should the TIAs
forecast hold, the 2004 winter season will surpass not only the
overall totals for 2003 but 2002, 2001 and 2000, as
well.
The forecast
projects leisure travel during the season, as it has been for the
past several years, will surpass business travel. Nevertheless,
both sectors will be up year over year.
Leisure travelers
are expected to take 195.1 million person trips of 50 miles or more
one-way from home compared with 190.4 million person trips during
the winter of 2003.
Comparatively,
business travelers are expected to take 30.5 million person trips
this winter compared with 29.6 million last year.
Overall, winter
business travel continues to lag behind its heyday in 2000 when
some 37.1 million trips were taken between December and
February.