2004 destinations
A hot tub after hiking, or a spa apres ski.
And a vacation in Europe – despite the weak dollar, despite the Madrid bombing.
Soft adventure and trips abroad are two of the biggest trends in travel as the tourism industry continues to rebound from its post-9/11 slump.
The past year was “the first year since 2000 that all travel industry sectors are showing increases in demand,” according to the Travel Industry of America.
When final figures are in, TIA expects travel spending in the United States to increase by about 7 percent in 2004, while the Air Transport Association predicts a 5 percent increase in air passengers.
With travel on the rise as the new year begins, here’s a look at popular destinations and types of vacations.
Europe: Surprise! The weak dollar didn’t keep Americans from going to Europe.
“2004 is shaping up as the second-best year ever for travel to Europe,” according to the European Travel Commission, with a projected 12.7 million Americans crossing the pond in 2004 – 20 percent more than in 2003, and nearing 2000’s record-setting 13.1 million.
The United Kingdom and France have been the top destinations for Americans for a number of years, according to the U.S. Commerce Department, and that is not expected to change once the 2003-04 figures are tallied.
But industry experts say Italy, Spain and Eastern Europe are increasingly popular. U.S. arrivals in Italy are projected at 3.8 million for 2004, up from 3.4 million in 2003, according to the Italian Tourist Office. Unusual itineraries are all the rage, like Go Ahead Vacations’ “Tuscan Spa Week” ( www.goaheadvacations.com, 800-590-1170) or a tour of the Italian lakes district.
And while learn-to-cook trips to Italy are trendy, Spain “has been crowned by the media as the new hot place for great food,” according to Katerina Pavlitova, a member of the European Travel Commission’s executive committee.
The March 11 bombing in Madrid, which killed 191 people, had far less impact than expected. From January to October 2004, 47.5 million tourists visited Spain, 2.5 percent more than the same period in 2003, according to Spain’s Ministry of Tourism, Commerce and Industry.
A trip by students from a high school in suburban Mamaroneck, N.Y., proceeded just three weeks after the bombing with only two students dropping out – one of them for unrelated reasons.
While they were there, said teacher Antoinette Diaz, “we felt very safe.” The trip was so successful that the school is planning another to Spain in 2005.
“Between what happened with 9/11 and what’s happened since then, people have accepted that terrorism is part of our life in today’s society and they will not be intimidated,” said Bob Whitley, president of the U.S. Tour Operators Association.
Eastern Europe is also booming as a destination. Former Soviet Bloc countries have come a long way in bringing infrastructure and amenities up to Western standards, yet prices are still much lower than in Western Europe, so U.S. dollars go further.
More importantly, many visitors to Eastern Europe have already been to Paris and London. They want to see something new, and they are intrigued by the history and culture of cities like Prague, Budapest and Krakow.
“People who go to the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland are often people who first visit other capitals,” said Pavlitova, who is also the director of tourism in the Czech Republic, where tourism is growing by double digits, with 12 percent of all visitors from the U.S.
Other international travel: Travel to Asia has rebounded from SARS, with interest in China, Hong Kong and Thailand particularly high. Tourism in Hong Kong was a whopping 68 percent higher for the first half of 2004 over the same period in 2003; tourist arrivals in India in 2004 were up 26 percent over the previous year, according to the India Tourism Development Corp.
The region’s appeal ranges from shopping bargains to Buddhist temples to mountain treks; travelers can go to Himalayan spas, Thai beaches or make that once-in-a-lifetime visit to the Taj Mahal or the Great Wall.
Nomadic Expeditions ( www.nomadicexpeditions.com, 800-998-6634) offers “From Yak to Kayak,” a family trip to Mongolia. Specialty Travel ( www.specialtytravel.com, 415-455-1643) has trips to China for scuba divers. The Women’s Travel Club ( www.womenstravelclub.com, 800-480-4448) has a tiger-watching safari in India.
Many tour operators report increased interest in South America, including Peru (Macchu Picchu); Chile (skiing in July); Argentina (cosmopolitan Buenos Aires); and Brazil, from the Amazon and beaches to Carnival in Rio.
Interest in Australia and New Zealand – particularly post-“Lord of the Rings” – remains high. And in South Africa, arrivals from the U.S. were up 11 percent from January through August 2004 compared to the same period the year before, according to South African Tourism.
Also in Africa, Rwanda (gorilla trekking!) is a new destination offered in 2005 by members of the U.S. Tour Operators Association.
Domestic travel: Sin City is suddenly everyone’s city. “Vegas is the perennial No. 1 destination,” declared Amy Bohutinsky, consumer travel expert with Hotwire.com.
Annual visitation to Nevada is about to top 50 million for the first time, and a projected 37 million of those visitors went to Las Vegas, Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn recently announced.
Tourism to Hawaii and Alaska, which was hurt by the drop in plane travel that followed the Sept. 11 attacks, continues to rebound. All segments of tourism in Alaska are up, with cruises especially strong (876,000 passengers from May to September of 2004, or 100,000 more than 2003), according to the state Chamber of Commerce. The influx even caused crowding at top destinations like Denali National Park, which reached capacity on peak summer days.
Visitor arrivals in Hawaii were up 8.8 percent for the first 10 months of 2004 compared to the previous year. The islands are increasingly popular for destination weddings.
Adventure and backroads: The best part of Sandra Hughes’ cruise to Alaska was climbing a glacier at Ketchikan, pickax in hand.
Peering into the deep icy crevices was terrifying; if you fell in, there was no way you were getting out, the guide warned. But she and her husband made it back to their ship just fine, enjoyed a luxurious dinner with wine, and got a good night’s sleep in their comfy cabin.
“People like to have some excitement and be out there doing unusual things,” said Hughes, vice president of AAA Travel. “But they also want to enjoy life.”
“You might be doing something strenuous during the day, but in the evenings you go to an inn with a hot tub and drink nice wine,” agreed Outside magazine editor Leslie Weeden.
“If you’re on a bicycle trip to Europe, you’re staying in chateaus. … You don’t just lie on a beach and drink pina coladas. You get massages and meditation and you try to rejuvenate, whether you’re learning a new skill or you’re out biking or kayaking.”
Weeden says popular vacations include whitewater trips for families and skill-building for women – like all-female surfing schools.
The old “If it’s Tuesday, it must be Belgium” model of cramming in as many sights as possible has been replaced by in-depth and offbeat trips: walking tours of Provence or language classes in Mexico.
“The American consumer has gotten far more sophisticated,” said Whitley. “They’re not doing the major cities. They’re doing the backroads.
“Instead of five countries, they’re doing one. Instead of five cathedrals in one day, they want time to see villages and experience the culture of the destination.”