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E L L I O T T' S TRAVEL NOTES
Travel news, opinion and analysis

March 11, 2004

Mississippi Hotels Fight 6 Percent Tax
The Mississippi Hotel & Lodging Association wants the Legislature to consider local option sales tax increases to pay for community projects rather than raise room taxes. "We want the Legislature to know that we will not support funding projects through room taxes without our input and our subsequent approval of such funding," said Association President Scott Sledge of the Cabot Lodge North in Jackson. "For too long we have been targeted." The group issued a resolution against higher room taxes Wednesday, two days after the Harrison County Board of Supervisors sent a measure to Jackson that would raise county lodging taxes to 6 percent to fund a Coast Coliseum & Convention Center expansion. Sun-Herald | Posted 6 a.m.
-- WLOX: $72 million expansion approved

• A six percent tax on rooms? You've gotta be kidding. The hotels are correct to fight it, as I mentioned in a recent commentary. Send us your comments.

Low-Fare Airlines Become High-Fare
The new price-hikers in the topsy-turvy airline industry are — would you believe? — the low-fare carriers. Last week, discounter ATA Airlines raised fares by $10 round trip. That echoed other recent increases by discounters Frontier and AirTran Airways. The latter raised round-trip fares by $6 in January and $10 in February. Spurred by high fuel prices, Delta Air Lines and other big hub-and-spoke airlines also have tried to raise fares, but with little success, because not all of their peers would go along with most attempts. The phenomenon underscores "the extent to which low-fare carriers wield pricing power," said James Higgins, an airline analyst with Credit Suisse First Boston, in a note this week to investors. Atlanta Journal | Posted 6:20 a.m.
-- Star-Tribune: At NWA, raising fares is tricky

World Tourism to Rise 5.9 Percent
The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) released its 2004 Travel & Tourism forecasts for 174 countries and the world today at the London Stock Exchange. Releasing forecasts prepared on its behalf by Oxford Economic Forecasting, which follow the United Nations standard for Tourism Satellite Accounting, the WTTC reported that the travel recovery from the war, SARS and the down-turned economy is now well underway and the overall outlook for 2004 and beyond is for robust growth. HospitalityNet | Posted 6:30 a.m.
-- HN: Hotel revenues will jump by 5 percent in U.S.

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• And finally ... as you know, US Airways' employees are being asked for more concessions as the ailing airline tries to pull itself back to profitability. Management has said all along that the workers are paid too much in comparison with archrival Southwest. But are they? A union report obtained by yours truly suggests quite the opposite. US Airways' average annual cost per agent is $47,312, while Southwest's is $53,278, according to the document. Posted 6:40 a.m. | Send us your comments.

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