In a bid to turn financial lemons into umbrella drinks, eight upscale Caribbean resorts are pitching depressed investors to pay for vacations with depressed stocks.
It is being touted as one of the largest contracts of its kind in the UK and Irish travel markets. TUI Travel UK & Ireland will become an appointed representative of Mondial Assistance, and Mondial will provide underwriting capacity through its insurance arm, Elvia Travel Insurance International. Mondial will also provide claims management and international medical assistance for travelers.
Thomas Cook has reported a 50 percent rise in operating profits to £366 million and an overall margin on sales of 4.2 percent for the 12 months to the end of September. The strong results led Europe’s second-biggest travel group to defy the economic gloom and forecast a further growth in margin in the current financial year and annual profits of £480 million in 2009-2010.
Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels reported that an increasing number of hotel investors are turning to Latin America for counter-cyclical investment opportunities. Hotel companies are researching market entrance strategies, conducting acquisition and new development due diligence, and analyzing future hotel demand in the 2014 FIFA Soccer World Cup candidate cities in Brazil.
PhoCusWright’s U.S. Online Travel Overview Eighth Edition presents sizing and forecasts of the U.S. total and online travel markets through 2010. Annual growth of the U.S. online leisure and unmanaged business travel market will slip to single digits in 2008. This marks the first time online travel growth has fallen below double digits since travel industry research authority PhoCusWright began tracking online travel in 1998.
Cruise lines, navigating a dreadful economy and tight-fisted consumers, are rolling out a bounty of bargain fares to fill their ships. With many deals matching the sort of deep discounting the industry resorted to in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, travel agents say cruising has become almost cheaper than staying home.