Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Sadly, No Surprise

A study by Travel Industry of American quantifies now what we’ve all suspected. People are avoiding air travel, more than 41 million trips in just the past few months.

Security hassles, higher fares, chronic schedule and service disruptions are taking a huge toll. The avoided trips cost the US economy $26.5 billion in just the past 12 months in lost sales for airlines and travel related businesses and of course, the destinations and local governments relying on visitors for tax revenue.

It may have begun back when they cut peanuts…and meals….but my guess is it began when instead of using the 80/20 rule with security, we took a 100% lockdown approach after 9/11.

This doesn’t just impact airlines and airports or the cities like Durham that own them. This is a blight on the entire brand of travel, one of the biggest generators of economic activity in the nation.

We must address it together.

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