Recession fears keep travellers at home

Fear of recession will soon eclipse fear of terrorism as the main reason for the decline in travel, US hoteliers were told.

Consultant Peter Yesowich said that, "barring another terrorist incident", he believed the economy would become the chief reason for continuing caution.

A series of surveys carried out by Yesowich have shown that Americans are now more willing to travel than they were immediately after 11 September, but more than one in five still say it affects their travel plans.

Yesowich told a seminar on travel trends that 37% of 800 regular leisure travellers surveyed 24 hours after the attack said they would alter their travel plans as a result.

A month later, when the survey was repeated, that figure had fallen to 27%, and when it was done a third time, on 5 November, it was down to 22%.

Yesowich said this indicated things were improving but that they still had not changed dramatically, particularly in the past month.

Business travellers showed a similar pattern to leisure travellers, but were less likely to change their plans.