Trends Report, August 2003. Summer travel in the second quarter of 2003 started to show signs of recovery after the 9/11 attacks.

It’s a year that’s seen business go from bad (2002) to really bad (first quarter of 2003). The leaders in the gloom and doom scenario are the airlines which, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics’ comparison of revenue to cost, have only Jet Blue, American Eagle, Air Tran, Southwest and Spirit Arilines operating at above break-even.

Fortunately, the revenue per mile numbers are up at Delta, Continental, Southwest and USAirways, meaning that passengers are willing to pay a little bit more for the few flights they take.

Hotels are also having a tough time according to Forrester Research (WholeView Technographics, June 19, 2003), because they’re having to fight the deep discounting known as Net-rate pricing, that’s being sought by consumers on the Web.

Because discount sites like Hotels.com offer five-star rooms at three-star prices (when available), it’s getting harder for the top hoteliers to maintain five-star quality and get five-star rates from their traditional customers. Noting that “the typical hotel chain participates in seven third-party discount programs” even though 92% of hospitality executives complain about them, Forrester counsels hotel chains to regain control of their inventory and initiate their own lowest-rate guarantee programs to win back their best guests.

And the cruise industry? Things are bobbing along there, with first quarter 2003 passenger counts up 11% from last year’s total of 7.6 million cruisers carried by the 10 major cruise lines operating ships with a capacity of 750 or more (see the survey). And (surprise to those of us who hardly have time to vacation), the six- to eight-day itineraries were the most popular, with a lucky 64% of passengers enjoying longer sailings.

In affirmation of cruising’s growth, a recent survey done by ASTA with Vacation.com of more than 400 travel agents found that 52.8% of clients planning a family reunion selected a cruise ship. The next most popular category, all-inclusive resorts, weighed in at 19.8%.

Why is this important? Because family travelers have become a big force in the market. FTF readers will verify what agents found: 66.9% of agents polled booked travel to a family reunion in 2002, and 64.5% noted “increased reunion requests” over the past five years.