Travel Weekly reporters reached out to industry executives and key players to get their thoughts on how the travel industry has changed in the 10 years since 9/11, and what the new realities mean to travelers and to the industry. To share your thoughts on how the industry has changed, scroll to the bottom of the page and leave a comment.
Steve Born
Vice president of marketing, Globus Family of Brands
"On 9/11, I was here [in Littleton, Colo.] at the Globus Family of Brands. On my way to the office, I stopped to get coffee at around 7 a.m., and listening to the radio in my car had heard that there had been a plane crash in New York City. As I continued driving, I heard the report that a second plane had crashed, and I remember my thoughts changed instantly from curiosity over the first incident to a palpable concern about the scale of 'attack' that we might be under.
"As I got to the office, you can imagine the level of activity. Everything was humming at a fever pitch, every department focused on contact with our current travelers in all parts of the world to confirm their whereabouts and their safety. This was one of our heaviest travel days of the season. I believe we had over 20,000 total U.S. passengers traveling with us on Globus or Cosmos that day. While we had the TV on in the background, 100% of our focus and energy was on the process of locating our passengers; each group and passenger that was confirmed safe was a small victory. As I look back, I'm grateful that we had that mission to focus our attention away from the bigger questions and concerns that most everyone else was already facing.
"We had one couple on a Cosmos tour in New York that we couldn't locate right away. As the day unfolded, finding this couple became a mission for us, they became a symbol that in some way there was a part of this we could control. At 6:11 p.m., our time, our tour director heard from them: They had been ferried from Manhattan to New Jersey but were safe and sound. That moment became a huge release for all of us, as we had accounted for every single customer in every part of the world.
"As the weeks unfolded, the effect on the travel industry overall started to set in. As we know now, that moment signaled a real shift in the international travel industry, marking the moment that this steady, reliable mature market was officially replaced by a new era of boomers. It was a shift that was coming slowly up until 9/11, but that event accelerated the shift.
"With this shift came the immediate need for segmentation of travel products, diversification of channels, the rush to provide online content and transactions and, overall, more specialized travel products. No longer was there one-size-fits-all travel.
"I feel that the industry is much improved, and in many ways has recovered from 9/11, but it's a much different travel landscape today. These shifts had to be made eventually, but that fateful day certainly caught all of us by surprise and has taught us all some very hard lessons about selling travel."
Christine Duffy
President and CEO, CLIA
In September 2001, Duffy was president and COO of McGettigan Partners, which was acquired by Maritz Travel two months later.
"The entire travel industry was impacted by the events that took place on 9/11, and I vividly recall all segments of the industry coming together with a unified voice to say that Americans shouldn't let the horrific actions of terrorists stop us from getting on airplanes and traveling.
"I remember getting on a flight a few days after 9/11 to attend a Meeting Professionals International chapter event being held in San Francisco. And while the plane wasn't very full, I had a packed house for the program. The industry recovered quickly as it became almost a sign of patriotism to travel, conducting business and keeping people in the industry working."
Richard Fain
Chairman and CEO, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.
"The immediate impact was probably greater on me as an American than as a businessman. Looking back on it, from a vantage point of almost 10 years, it's surprising how little it affected our business model and how quickly our business reverted to where it had been.
"Sept. 11 had a huge impact on everybody, Americans and non-Americans alike, but most people realized their life carried on, vacations remained an important part of their quality of life and cruising remained a good value. I remember when [President] Kennedy was shot; that was a trauma to the whole system, and 9/11 was, too. We're a strong country: We stand up, dust ourselves off and move forward, and that's what we did then."
Josef Forstmayr
President, Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association
"Sept. 11 was a lesson for us all. It was also proof of our industry's resilience. It taught us how to cope with a sharp tourism decline and played a major role in the way we've responded to our current economic situation.
"It was a tragedy of immeasurable proportions, but 10 years later we are much stronger and wiser as an industry. While security protocols now are more stringent, we have the antidote for stress once the vacationer gets to our resorts and beaches."
Chris Gaia
Vice president of marketing, Maritz Travel Co.
"We found three profound differences in three primary areas after 9/11.
"First is the overall participant experience. The hassle factor of air travel has clearly increased, and that's always the one part of our program that continues to get the lowest service quality scores.
"Along with that change is a pretty significant increase in the type of information you have to gather from participants just to ticket them. For us, that has created a whole other layer of expense as we have put in additional security around just protecting personal information that we gather on travelers: birthdays, passport numbers and stuff like that. It really has created a fair amount of work for us to help protect the people we travel with.
"Second is the need to have solid emergency and contingency planning in place. The world is just a more unstable place than it was, and we need to have the ability to respond quickly to emergencies, whether natural disasters or man-made. We upped the requirements of our third-party suppliers and destination management companies for all our overseas travel and put in place some pretty strict guidelines around emergency preparedness procedures. All programs have satellite phones on the ground, so we can always communicate in case of an emergency.
"Third is choosing destinations. You always looked at things like airlift and cost and experience, but now we also look at things like security and are there any travel warnings? Some of our corporate clients' security departments will weigh in on the destination choices and want to look at what kind of emergency procedures are in place. Particularly around international travel, there is the whole visa issue and the whole, 'how do we travel across borders?' question. You need a passport now to come back from Canada. The passport and visa needs have really changed significantly."
Steve Gorga
President and CEO, Travel Impressions
"I started my job at Travel Impressions on July 16, 2001. So, here we were six weeks later, and I remember it like yesterday, as I'm sure all of us do. On Sept. 11, we were all getting ready to do a business update with one of the leaders at American Express. I went to the train station to get her ... AmEx is right across from ground zero ... I had to share with her what just happened. As I was waiting with her, the first tower fell. It was her first day coming into our office.
"Our office is about 35 miles east of New York City. We had an awful lot of people in the city. It was a very emotional time that day at TI. It really provided an incredible bonding experience for all of us. We all were very emotionally involved.
"Business was not even discussed for many weeks. Those days and months after were a very emotional time. None of our employees or their immediate family lost their lives. AmEx did lose 11 employees.
"I don't recall any serious business issues other than that business declined very seriously for all of us.
"We all became very aware that anything can change in a moment. We worked together to create contingency plans. We got all that in place to make sure we could continue to serve the travel agent if they needed us in case one of our offices was closed. There were a lot of reports that other incidents were going to happen. It was a very delicate time, to say the least. It wasn't easy trying to encourage people to travel again.
"I remember walking through the hotels in the city in the days that followed, and they were empty; there was nobody in the lobby. And then the inspiration from the recovery effort. For so long they were looking for survivors. People were looking for lost ones. I remember Penn Station was covered with well-wishers' notes to New York. I'm a native New Yorker, and this just bonded everyone."
Steve Heydt
President, Elite Island Resorts
"Sept. 11 marked the beginning of a new travel industry, driven first by overwhelming requirements for the security of both domestic and international travelers. This security concern had its roots in airports/airlines, but today you see the change in access to hotels, cruise ships and entertainment venues, including theme parks. The travel agent had to become an expert in all of this to ensure that clients were both well-informed and prepared with proper documentation and general updates. All of this has become standard fare today.
"At the same time, the shift to expanded information access -- Web, mobile, iPods and iPads -- through improved technology has provided better communications and information-sharing. This has produced new sellers never before in the industry, using new avenues for capturing visitors and members to their sites. Daily searching and buying of travel has become fairly routine in people's lives.
"Savvy travelers and agents can now meet in chat rooms, on blogs, in auction sites and in social online networks as the older media world and distribution process forced those seeking clients and new business to upgrade their presence and networks plus embrace all the changing technology. From travel agent to Trip Advisor to TripIt, the industry is moving faster than any other business segment.
"Our business is a reflection of all of this, as we now receive more than 50% of our business electronically. Groups, events and weddings still require personal service, and that will not change for the foreseeable future, but garnering the leads for those sales is being generated from the Web."
Herve Humler
President and COO, Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co.
"We learned that customers have become more resilient in times of terrorism and will come back. Our customers have become determined not to let disasters, natural or otherwise, keep them from getting business done, and we have become more aware of the need to use state-of-the-art security measures to protect our clients to give them an added measure of security.
"Business was impacted in the short term, and many predicted that the lower Manhattan hotels would never recover. But they have, retaining loyal customers and recruiting new ones. While things may be a new normal in many ways, economic perceptions have had a far greater impact than the tragedies of 9/11 on how business gets done today."
Richard Kahn
President, Kahn Travel Communications
"The events and subsequent impact of Sept. 11, 2001, have had, in my opinion, a profound impact on the travel industry, rivaling the introduction of the wide-bodied jets in the 1970s and the ending of travel agent commissions by the airlines in the 1990s.
"The actual travel experience will never be the same. Stress, especially at the airports, has replaced what was once the welcomed beginning of a vacation. The heightened security at the airports, combined with an increase in the fear of flying -- and sometimes in just plain traveling overseas -- has challenged the industry to find new ways to entice consumers back into the air for long-haul vacations.
"However, the impact has not been all bad. As a result of a variety of difficulties associated with travel since 9/11, a growing number of consumers have realized that using real-life travel agents can provide a personalized service and protect their interests far better than the online agencies. This has resulted in a resurgence of consumer confidence and use of the travel agent community and has stabilized the often-maligned agency industry."
Steve Lassman
Vice president and general manager, Villas of Distinction
"Sept. 11 brought great pain to the travel industry. Airlines, hotels, other hard-asset owners and distributors suffered huge losses. Consumers have had to endure great inconvenience every time they travel through an airport or use almost any means of transport. Airport security is much tighter. Access is much more rigorously restricted. Long lines are visible inside terminals and sometimes along the sidewalks outside the airport buildings. In short, you have to wait longer and in more lines than you used to.
"Gone are the days when you could show up 30 minutes before your flight and run to the gate. Now you must arrive two to three hours ahead of your scheduled flight. Many hotels now require picture identification at check-in, which was unheard of in the past.
"However, 9/11 also has shown that travel is now part of Americans' DNA. Our willingness to endure any hardship and our desire to explore and continue to live life to the fullest makes the travel industry a testament to the American spirit. Americans are working harder and longer, and that leads to a necessity and desire to travel and to take a vacation.
"Sept. 11 was a trigger, and the recession and subsequent shocks have reinforced that value for a dollar spent is the dominant criteria for consumers. Thus, suppliers and distributors have to be more efficient and more creative to survive. A large number of companies have prospered in this environment, thus proving that travel is an industry that may change dramatically over time but is here to stay as a pillar of the economy.
"Family travel has become increasingly popular, as the multi-generational family is spending more time together and enjoying the spoils of their vacation time. The booking window has continued to shrink. However, value and quality of service are the pillars of a successful travel business."
Mike Nelson
President of the Partner Services Group, Orbitz Worldwide
"The tragic events of 9/11 occurred a few months after the launch of Orbitz.com. Travel was impacted in so many ways, from the information required for booking travel to airport procedures to the in-flight experience and other security protocols. Perhaps the most enduring impact on our business has been customer care. It furthered our commitment to providing customers with complete, timely information about their travel plans.
"Today, we deliver that information through multiple channels: online, call centers, email, live chat and proactive Orbitz Care Alerts, which are automated communication on flight status, disruptions and other events that may impact their trip."
Hugh Riley
Secretary general, Caribbean Tourism Organization
"Sept. 11, 2001, triggered a range of emotions, among them shock, sorrow, rage, fear, sympathy and a great deal of love. Anyone who already felt close to Americans got even closer after that.
"For the travel industry, it was a more severe jolt than had ever been felt before. Never had there been a time in modern history when air travel in the U.S. came to a halt. It took the resolve of a courageous public to get the industry moving again, a public determined to let no one snatch away the privilege to fly. It was as if Americans had collectively declared, 'We work hard, damn it, and we've earned the right to travel.' And travel they did!
"The Caribbean benefited from that determination eventually. At first there were serious concerns over the new U.S. requirement that all Americans would need a passport to re-enter the country, even if they had been visiting the Caribbean.
"That new regulation removed a considerable competitive advantage the Caribbean had previously held. Even today it is estimated that less than a third of the adult U.S. population owns a passport, but thankfully, those who do have been using them to visit the Caribbean in larger numbers than prior to 9/11.
"Once again, the tourism industry has proven itself to be completely resilient; not impervious to shocks but tough enough to pick itself up and bounce right back."
Doug Risser
Co-owner, Menno Travel, Goshen, Ind.
"Business has changed significantly. We merged two offices into one, closed down our motorcoach division in March 2009 in those tough economic times when we lost 35% of our revenue. We used to run 50 to 60 motorcoach tours a year.
"Nothing focuses attention like the sight of gallows. We work more efficiently now. We still see customers who want to sit across the desk and talk to an agent. We have a lot of walk-ins. We are the only agency based in Elkhart County. A lot of suppliers are surprised that we have a 20-person agency here with leisure, group, corporate and incentive departments. It works for us and for our customers, most of whom live within half an hour of our agency."
Dan Rowe
President and CEO, Panama City Beach (Fla.) CVB
"Sept. 11 has had profound impacts on the travel industry as evidenced by the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the increase in safety procedures to ensure airport security will never be breached again.
"Although these procedures increase the 'hassle factor,' I am encouraged by the resiliency of the American traveler, who has adapted to these changes in stride and continues to cherish the importance of leisure travel with friends and family."
Chris Russo
President, ASTA
"The industry's changed quite a bit as a result of 9/11. Travel agents themselves had to re-evaluate what their business strategies were. For four or five months people didn't go anywhere. People were afraid to get on airplanes. If they did, it was close to home. I redid my business [Travel Partners] in 2001 to focus on the honeymoon and destination wedding market. I thought, people are still going to go on a honeymoon and destination weddings. Maybe it won't be as extravagant, but they are still going to do it.
"A lot of agencies closed after that, and the ones that stuck around had to look at their own business model and say, 'What can we do differently?'
"You know our motto is, 'Without a travel agent, you're on your own.' A lot of people were stuck in a lot of different places, and the travel agent really rose to the occasion. We've seen that over the years since then. Whether it's an ash cloud or an earthquake, the travel partner is always there.
"The consumer has changed, as well. What most of us that do leisure travel have seen in the industry is that multigenerational and family travel really picked up after then because it brought people together. We realized that we are vulnerable. We saw an uptick in that type of travel, which is a trend that has continued since then.
"I don't remember it really being a big deal until 9/11 brought that sense that we're vulnerable, so we'd better spend as much time together as we can."
Rick Sasso
President and CEO, MSC Cruises USA
In September 2001, Sasso was president of Celebrity Cruises.
"The initial adversity for us in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 was that we couldn't move people around because of the airline situation. We had six or seven ships in the water, 10,000 people waiting at ports to get off the ships. The first week was a complex operational dilemma, and then the cancellations started.
"But I always say that in every adversity there's a seed of equal or greater opportunity.
"We had the Galaxy in San Juan, and nobody wanted to fly there. So I said, let's take a chance. I made the decision to bring the ship to the Northeast that October and to begin offering winter cruises [from Baltimore] to the Caribbean. No one was doing that. To this day it was the most successful operation Celebrity had, and now there are multiple ships sailing to the Caribbean from Northeast ports every winter."
Ricky Skerritt
Minister of tourism and transportation, St. Kitts
"Sept. 11 was a horrible event of historic proportions and one that marked a turning point for the travel industry as a whole. Travel security requirements changed dramatically, with travelers now having to endure additional security checks and carry-on restrictions, which lengthen the time and increase the cost involved in airline travel.
"The impact was global, but with a lasting socioeconomic dent in those Caribbean destinations where the primary source of visitor arrivals come from the U.S. mainland and where tourism activity comprises a sizeable portion of the local economy.
"One outcome of 9/11 was that the circumstances of the attacks served to remind people of the value and fragility of life. It caused a mainstream adoption of different types of travel as one way to better appreciate life. Experiential travel, multigenerational family travel and volunteer vacations became a way to connect more deeply with each other and the places visited.
"Fortunately, travel of this nature benefits both the traveler and the destination. Travel is continually evolving, but the industry is resilient and adaptable, having shown it can embrace and even thrive in new market environments."
Butch Stewart
Founder and chairman, Sandals Resorts International
"Following 9/11, the reasons why we travel expanded. Relaxation and exploration were no longer the primary motivators.
"Since 9/11, travelers got away to get together. Travel became a moment to be with the people who matter most, and if anything, vacation time became even more precious.
"I prefer to reflect on what has not changed, and that is the imperative role of travel agents to help people book confidently and to realize the vacation of their dreams."
Bill Smith
Vice president of cruise sales and exclusive product, Virtuoso
"I see a lot more interest in families still wanting to be together and travel together, friends wanting to be together. I think there is more awareness of it. I think the connectivity to family and friends as a result of 9/11 has stayed, and I think it's changed the way a lot of us on the supplier side talk about family programs and how we go after the family market. Family and multigenerational travel was there before, but it didn't have the awareness it does now.
"I think 9/11 also strengthened the value of the travel adviser, because if you are traveling to Mumbai and something happens, you want to know you can call your travel adviser 24/7 and your travel adviser can either get you out or help you find a way.
"And the travel adviser becomes much more important when people are planning holidays and trips, because they want to know that someone is looking after them and can connect to them from anywhere in the world. People can go on the Internet and book something, and they may say they can get a better deal, but if you are in Mumbai and something goes wrong, call that [toll-free] number and whoever answers the phone at that time won't be the same person that you've been dealing with."
Yuki Tanaka
Executive director, Japan National Tourism Organization
"In the past decade, the U.S. visitors number has constantly gone up and down. It dropped right after 9/11 but recovered pretty well in the following year. SARS (bird flu) in 2003 caused much more negative impact than 9/11, then we had another recovery. Then swine flu, the collapse of Lehman Brothers caused drops. In between, it always recovers."
Kimberly Wilson Wetty
Co-President, Valerie Wilson Travel, Inc.
"It's hard to believe it's been 10 years.
"I think the greatest tribute to our industry is we are still here and we are a stronger industry than we've ever been before.
"Sept. 11 was the tipping point. It was the first time we had terrorism on US soil. It was a wake-up call that it could happen in anybody's backyard. There have been other huge world events over the last 10 years. We often joke, 'what else could happen next?' Between wars and tsunamis and earthquakes and an economy that's really fluctuated we've continued to be a really resilient industry. Every day we face changes and be resilient continually. You have to put your best foot forward.
"From a rebound standpoint, without a doubt over the 10 years since, leisure travel has rebounded faster than business travel. Business travel has had ups and down. After 9/11 it was slower to come back. So many businesses were unsure and absolutely in 2008 when the market had the huge correction it did. Business is so tied to the economy and world events... Business travel gone through more ebbs and flows.
"Sad events bring you together and make you refocus on what's important. If nothing else, 9/11 proved to everybody how precious life is. You find that time to reconnect and do what's important to you, whether it's a family vacation or reconnecting with a spouse or a child or yourself -- by maybe checking into a spa.
"We really appreciate the value of time and how precious life can be. We really need too reconnect with those moments and we are more committed to taking personal time, and exploring the world and continuing to travel. Leisure travel is better positioned and has survived better because of 9/11 because we refocused on what's important.
"For VWT, our procedures are so much stronger today than 10 years ago. We've always prided ourselves on our emergency best practices, but that was even heightened after 9/11. We know where any one of our travelers is in the world at any given time. If we have to vacate the head office, we can get that information remotely offsite.
"We are also continuing to sing the song that you do need to travel. Travel is the #1 employer globally. The world is going to continue. There are moments where you might be uneasy and people have moments of concern and use more common sense. But travel is part of who we are and how we do business and how we live. Nobody can take that away from us.
Paul Wiseman
President, Trafalgar Tours
"I was at home in Sydney, working with Trafalgar. ... I had just driven out of the driveway at home when the news flash came over the radio. I drove back to the house, went inside to find my wife coming down the stairs crying. We turned on the TV and watched in horror what looked like a Bruce Willis disaster movie unfold before our eyes; it was stunning. Then we needed to take action, as our customers were stranded.
"Tours were finishing in Europe and flights were canceled, so people could not leave, nor did they have any onward travel arrangements such as accommodations, so they needed our help.
"Flights from the U.S. were grounded so passengers could not arrive in Europe. However, some clients were already there and were turning up at the hotels and departure points expecting a tour. It was impossible to know who was going to arrive and who was not.
"The only good news was that it was late in the travel season for 2001 travel and very early in the booking season for 2002, so rather than mass cancellations what happened was that new bookings just stopped.
"I was wondering if the world and the travel industry would ever recover from such a catastrophic event.
"I think the most significant factor has been the desire for families to travel together rather than family members traveling separately. Security at the airports is also a very obvious, and inconvenient, change.
"Unfortunately there have been so many other significant events that have affected the industry in the past decade that very few companies would be trading better than pre-2001. Before the global financial crisis, I think most companies were optimistic about a return to pre-9/11 trading levels, but since the global financial crisis, obviously it has been difficult.
"There are some exceptions to that, like new product lines such as Trafalgar's family and "At Leisure" experiences, that did not exist back then and are exceeding expectations, but overall it has been a tough 10 years."
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