Travel Spending Up in 1st Quarter
Cheap airplane tickets and cheap discount hotel rooms may be a little more difficult to find going forward if the increase in demand for travel in the 1st quarter of the year continues throughout the rest of 2010.
Hotel spending was up at an annual rate of 11 percent in the first quarter vs. falling at a rate of almost 8 percent in the fourth quarter of 09. Airline ticket sales increased at an annual rate of 4.5 percent in the first quarter, after dropping almost 10 percent in the fourth quarter. Ticket prices increased slightly above 13 percent during the first quarter.
Airlines have reported business ticket sales are starting to return to pre recession levels, which has meant that they have not needed to run the fare sales that were used to fill seats with leisure travelers during the recession.
www.cheapfares.com