In an ideal life, to get from point A to point B, I would fly over
water and big land masses but forgo short connecting flights to
take the train.
Intermodal transport was one topic raised by a panel discussing
trends affecting transportation to and within Europe during Travel
Weekly's recent Europe 2000 conference in New York. Panelists
discussed it in air/rail terms only.
For such combos to become more viable, transfers between one and
the other have to be smooth and relatively easy; transport planners
around Europe are well aware of that.
Air/rail trips also have to be easy to book together, which is
why the French railway has code-share pacts with American and
United and why those connections show on the CRS screens.
I want to take the thinking one step further, with my definition
of air/rail intermodal travel: It involves the best in air/rail
connections, combined with a hotel that is in walking distance of
the train station. No code-share deals involving that last leg of
the trip would be required, but the right kind of hotels, including
top of the line, have to be available. That is not invariably the
case today.
OK, hotel companies can't remake inner cities overnight for the
perfect budget-to-deluxe mix in places where today's air passengers
are likely, in coming decades, to arrive by train. But surely this
will be one aspect of hotel development to keep an eye on.
In this issue of Travel Weekly, one of our colleagues, Andy
Compart, tells of tracing his family history on a trip to
Shanghai.
As one young man's personal story, it is compelling reading. It
also makes a business point that there is a market to be tapped
among any group of people whose reservoir of interest in family
histories can be roused. And that market could be quite lucrative
for agents.
Andy, perhaps inadvertently, made another point pertinent to
agent readers. He quoted his father, whose family had left Nazi
Germany in 1939 and spent World War II in China, as saying that
"you can survive. Under any circumstances, you adapt and
survive."
His father was referring to his experiences, in his teen years,
figuring out how to survive and even thrive in an alien land,
learning a new language and trying his hand at a number of
trades.
Mr. Compart's point seems valid now, for Travel Weekly's
readers, too, as they deal with jolting changes. Changes like, say,
huge commission cuts -- or maybe even the eventual loss of all
commissions from some suppliers.
I hope that line, and the whole story, gave your day a lift. It
was very good for mine.