Editor’s Forum
By James Ruggia
Since 1972, when President Richard Nixon made his celebrated trip to Beijing, the American fascination with China has undergone a slow but steady evolution. For tourists, China’s mysteries were opened by escorted tour operators, but over the decades the relentless exploration by business travelers led to the development of a much more sophisticated Chinese travel experience.
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The first six months of 2010 saw international tourist arrivals grow by 7 percent according to the August Interim Update of the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer. This result confirms the recovery trend beginning in the last quarter of 2009 and is expected to continue in the second half of the year at a somewhat more moderate rate. The Interim Update was officially presented at the 4th UNWTO/PATA Forum on Tourism Trends and Outlook (Sept. 2-4, Guilin, China) to tourism stakeholders from the public and private sector, as well as academia.
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Avis Budget Group, Inc. said it is increasing the cash portion of its offer for Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group from $39.25 to $40.75 per share. The revised offer, which values Dollar Thrifty at roughly $1.35 billion, would include the proceeds of a pre-closing special dividend to be paid by Dollar Thrifty consistent with Avis Budget’s previous proposal.
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The damage caused by Hurricane Earl will cost Caribbean destinations between $50 million to $150 million, according to estimate from insurance companies and risk consultants. The damage includes wind damage to properties in the Virgin Islands, St. Maarten, St. Martin and Puerto Rico. Nearly half of the damage total is in St. Maarten, where high winds downed trees and power lines, peeled off roofs and dislodged signage.
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In its Fall Travel Trends Survey, Travel Leaders found its travel agents are not seeing any impact from the Gulf Coast oil spill disaster on travel bookings to the region for the remainder of the year. In addition, the survey found that overall year-over-year bookings are continuing to swing upward with Orlando and Caribbean cruising serving as the most-booked domestic and international destinations, respectively.
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