Peter Yesawich, chairman and CEO of the Ypartnership and noted travel and tourism leader, said that there are some anecdotal indicators that the travel industry could start to recover this year, but probably not until the latter half of the year.

The culprit remains the languishing economy. And although the most recent GDP numbers provide some encouragement and job losses have abated, consumers have adopted more conservative saving and spending patterns because they remain uncertain about the horizon line and have yet to recover from the systemic shock they experienced while they watched helplessly as a significant chunk of their net worth evaporated during the past 18 months.

This signifies another year in which value will be in vogue, and both business and leisure travelers will sharpen their travel planning and purchasing skills further to ensure they don't overpay. Also, tourists’ discovery and embrace of the next generation of online shopping tools is certain to place additional pressure on margins.
What will be in this year will be drive vacations, mid-priced hotels, low-cost carriers, all-inclusive resorts, packaged vacations, and cruises (regardless of duration). Yesawich said that marketing tracking studies confirm that Americans still view vacations as a birthright. For more information, visit www.ypartnership.com.