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

May 27, 2004

Record Gas Prices Greet Travelers
As more than 30 million Americans prepare to hit the highways this Memorial Day weekend, motorists will have to deal with more than just backseat drivers and traffic. On Wednesday the average price of one gallon of regular unleaded gasoline hit $2.06, up more than 5 cents in just a week and about 51 cents since last year. The hike is part of an ongoing trend in the cost of gasoline. Since March, prices have been on the rise. These price hikes have people worried that consumer spending, the largest measure of how well the economy is doing, could be affected. Economists say that if Americans have to spend more money on gas, they'll have less money to spend on other goods and services and as gas prices go up so do the cost of things like food and other products. PBS | Posted 6:30 a.m.
-- AAA: High gas prices won't deter holiday travelers
-- Eagle: Faced with high fuel prices, a few folks swerve

• I don't buy the overly optimistic surveys that suggest travelers are shrugging off high fuel prices. No one is taking $2-a-gallon gas lightly, even if they are traveling this summer. If travel swings back to pre-9/11 levels, it will be because there's a lot of pent-up demand for a little R&R. In other words, a lot of us are vacation-starved, having put off our time off for several years. Send us your comments.

Norwegian to Launch US-Flag Line
Despite recent setbacks, Norwegian Cruise Line Ltd. is on track for this summer's launch in Hawaii of the first modern oceangoing cruise ship under a U.S. flag in about half a century, the head of the company said yesterday. Norwegian is part of the world's third-largest cruise company, Star Cruises plc of Malaysia, and is trying to create a niche for itself against the top two lines, Carnival Corp. and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Star and Norwegian have about 9 percent of the global market, while the other two have almost 75 percent combined. Before the announcement last year to have the ships run Hawaiian cruises, Norwegian was "hoping that we would graciously be allowed to eke out a living," Colin Veitch, Norwegian's president and chief executive officer, said in an interview. The new project will not only help the company, it "is the revival of U.S.-flagged passenger shipping. This is going to create domestic jobs and domestic economic benefit," he said. AP | Posted 6:45 a.m.

Profits Double at InterContinental
The world's biggest hotelier, InterContinental Hotels, has reported a doubling of first-quarter profits and a growing hotel recovery in North America and the UK, boosting its shares. The group, which operates InterContinental, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn hotels, held out the prospect of further share buybacks as early as the second-half of 2004 as it pushes through a sale of a quarter of its hotel assets. "We are continuing to see recovery in North America and UK with April staying strong, and while continental Europe remains difficult we are seeing small signs of recovery," Chief Executive Richard North told a conference call on Thursday. North added that the group will put a further 500 million pounds worth of hotels, on both sides of the Atlantic, up for sale within weeks to bring its total hotel sell-off since the group's demerger in April 2003 close to one billion pounds. Reuters | Posted 7 a.m.

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• And finally ... there will be no blog posting tomorrow or Monday in observance of the US Memorial Day holiday, and no newsletter on Sunday. No, I'm not slacking off - I'm still living at the Hampton Inn and need to actually move into my new office. Finally. Posted 7:10 a.m. | Send us your comments.

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