NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. recession presents a strong headwind to the travel industry, especially for business travel, which is declining more rapidly than leisure, the chief executives of two online travel agencies said on Monday.
Speaking at the Reuters Travel and Leisure Summit in New York, Priceline.com Chief Executive Jeffery Boyd and Orbitz Worldwide CEO Barney Harford said separately they are seeing pressure on business travel bookings as companies look for quick ways to cut costs.
"There's been a more rapid downturn in business travel than leisure travel," Boyd said.
Boyd linked the decline in business travel, in part, to efforts by executives to avoid criticism that they are wasting company money on unnecessary travel. He said complaints by politicians about expensive corporate travel is putting additional and unfair pressure on the struggling industry.
Boyd said that while no one is pleased with the current state of the economy, the downturn gives travel agencies a chance to court bargain-hungry travelers with cheap bookings and creative travel package deals.
The three publicly traded U.S. online travel agencies -- Priceline, Expedia Inc and Orbitz Worldwide Inc -- posted mixed results for the fourth quarter. Only Priceline saw the total value of its bookings rise.
The CEOs did not predict an end to the current downturn for the travel industry. But other experts have said it will not end this year.
"I could see well into 2010 having a very sluggish travel and leisure market," Phillip Kleweno, partner at Bain Corporate Renewal Group, said at the summit.
GROWING OVERSEAS
Online travel agencies are racing to expand into international markets as growth in domestic internet bookings plateaus.
Typically, a strong international presence helps blunt the impact of an economic slowdown on travel agencies. But given the global scope of this downturn, the companies are finding it harder to shield themselves.
"The current environment is hitting pretty much everywhere full on," Harford said.
Boyd agreed.
This recession is "not like previous recessions where you could see regions that were insulated," he said. "The good news is that in a recovery it should be global in its nature, and international travel will resume and be strong.
He said, however, that strong growth opportunities remain around the globe. Priceline is seeing rapid growth in European markets, that are served by its site Bookings.com.
Harford said he sees "significant opportunity" for growth in the Asia/Pacific region.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Travel Info
The Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) is about 45 minutes
driving distance from Peking University. We will arrange pick-ups for participants at the airport on September 7th, 2008.
If you prefer to get to Peking University by yourself, you can either take a taxi or the airport shuttle bus:
--- By taxi
It takes about 45 minutes by taxi from Beijing International Airport
to the east gate of Peking University. The taxi fee is about 100 RMB.--- By airport shuttle bus
You can take the airport shuttle bus (Route 4) from the entrance
of international arrival terminal to the Beijing Friendship Hotel (also called YouYi Hotel). The fee for the shuttle bus is about 16 RMB.
From there you can take a taxi to the east gate of Peking
University. The taxi fee is about 10 RMB.
driving distance from Peking University. We will arrange pick-ups for participants at the airport on September 7th, 2008.
If you prefer to get to Peking University by yourself, you can either take a taxi or the airport shuttle bus:
--- By taxi
It takes about 45 minutes by taxi from Beijing International Airport
to the east gate of Peking University. The taxi fee is about 100 RMB.--- By airport shuttle bus
You can take the airport shuttle bus (Route 4) from the entrance
of international arrival terminal to the Beijing Friendship Hotel (also called YouYi Hotel). The fee for the shuttle bus is about 16 RMB.
From there you can take a taxi to the east gate of Peking
University. The taxi fee is about 10 RMB.
Monday, March 23, 2009
The City Wall in Xi an
Xi’an is one of Chinese cities of long history and rich culture inheritage. It’s City Wall and River impress me the most.At the time when Zhu Yuanzhang captured Huizhou, long before the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, he was adonished by a hermit named Zhu Sheng, who told him to “build high walls, store abundant provisions and take your time in proclaiming yourself emperor.” Zhu Yuanzhang followed his advice.
Once the whole country was unified, he sent orders to the local governments to build city walls on a large scale. Zhu assumed that “out of all the mountains and rivers in the world, the central Qin is the most strongly fortified and strategically Dynasty structure, as a result of a wall building campaign.There is a rampart every 120 meters apart, that extends out from the main wall. The top of the rampart is at the same level as the top of the wall. The ramparts were built to allow soldiers to see those enemies who would try to climb the wall. The distance between every two ramparts is just within the range of arrow shot from either side. This allowed soldiers to protect the entire wall without exposing themselves to the enemy.
There are altogether 98 of them on the wall; each has a sentry building on top of it.The weapons in ancient times were primitive. The gates of the city wall were the only way to go into and out of town. Therefore, these gates were important strategic points. The feudal rulers racked their brains to try to defend them. In Xi’an, each of the east, west, south and north gates consists of three gate towers. The main gate tower is called zhenglou, Zhalou is the gate tower with a suspension bridge, and Jianlou is the arrow tower. Zhalou tower stands away from the wall. It is used to lift and lower the suspension bridge. Jianlou tower is in the center of the others. There are square windows in the front and on the two sides to shoot arrows from. The zhenglou tower is the inner one and is also the main entrance to the city. Jianlou tower and zhenglou are connected by walls and the encircled area is called wongcheng in which soldiers could be stationed. From wongcheng, there are also horse passages leading to the top of the wall.
These are gradually ascending steps that make it easy for war horses to ascend and descend. There are altogether eleven horse passages aroud the city.A moat, wide and deep, runs around the city. Over the moat, there used to be a huge suspension bridge which cut off the way in and out of the city, once lifted.Thus, the Ming Dynasty city wall formed a complex and well-organized system of defense. It is also the most complete city wall that has survived through China’s long history. The city call itself is a true display of the ability and wisdom of the working people in ancient times. It provide invaluable and substantial material for the study of the history, military science, and architecture of the Ming Dynasty.
Taday, after the repairs that have been made on the wall by the lacal government, the city wall has taken on a new look. A circular around the city. The thriving trees and flowers, the rockeries in the park, and the buildings of classical Chinese architecture, together with the city wall, make Xi’an all the more beautiful.
Once the whole country was unified, he sent orders to the local governments to build city walls on a large scale. Zhu assumed that “out of all the mountains and rivers in the world, the central Qin is the most strongly fortified and strategically Dynasty structure, as a result of a wall building campaign.There is a rampart every 120 meters apart, that extends out from the main wall. The top of the rampart is at the same level as the top of the wall. The ramparts were built to allow soldiers to see those enemies who would try to climb the wall. The distance between every two ramparts is just within the range of arrow shot from either side. This allowed soldiers to protect the entire wall without exposing themselves to the enemy.
There are altogether 98 of them on the wall; each has a sentry building on top of it.The weapons in ancient times were primitive. The gates of the city wall were the only way to go into and out of town. Therefore, these gates were important strategic points. The feudal rulers racked their brains to try to defend them. In Xi’an, each of the east, west, south and north gates consists of three gate towers. The main gate tower is called zhenglou, Zhalou is the gate tower with a suspension bridge, and Jianlou is the arrow tower. Zhalou tower stands away from the wall. It is used to lift and lower the suspension bridge. Jianlou tower is in the center of the others. There are square windows in the front and on the two sides to shoot arrows from. The zhenglou tower is the inner one and is also the main entrance to the city. Jianlou tower and zhenglou are connected by walls and the encircled area is called wongcheng in which soldiers could be stationed. From wongcheng, there are also horse passages leading to the top of the wall.
These are gradually ascending steps that make it easy for war horses to ascend and descend. There are altogether eleven horse passages aroud the city.A moat, wide and deep, runs around the city. Over the moat, there used to be a huge suspension bridge which cut off the way in and out of the city, once lifted.Thus, the Ming Dynasty city wall formed a complex and well-organized system of defense. It is also the most complete city wall that has survived through China’s long history. The city call itself is a true display of the ability and wisdom of the working people in ancient times. It provide invaluable and substantial material for the study of the history, military science, and architecture of the Ming Dynasty.
Taday, after the repairs that have been made on the wall by the lacal government, the city wall has taken on a new look. A circular around the city. The thriving trees and flowers, the rockeries in the park, and the buildings of classical Chinese architecture, together with the city wall, make Xi’an all the more beautiful.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Did it work?
So the big question of the hour is "Did it work?" Absolutely! For the first time that I can remember in years, I was able to take a long trip and never lost anything since I knew exactly where everything was in the bag. Unfortunately, I can't say this about our clothes packing so I guess I'll need to apply the first two rules to my clothing in the future.The Western Flyer received a lot of abuse during the trip. We took a total of ten airline flights, spent time in buses, and bounced around in safari vehicles, and everything stayed protected and in its proper location. I appreciated the waterproof design of this bag when it was with me on an open safari vehicle at Kruger National Park one day and I neglected to cover it up during a rainstorm. The zippers are gasketed and waterproof, so nothing touched the electronic gear, even though I was drenched. The Western Flyer bag worked so well that I'll be using Tom Bihn's new Checkpoint Flyer (it is one of the cases that is TSA-approved so that you don't need to remove your laptop to go through security) for my business trips from now on. Please feel free to share your stories about your favorite ways to pack for international or business trips with a huge pile of electronic gear. You can leave your comments below.
The Bumpy Road Ahead
When I whipped up a bunch of 2008 predictions in the first Seat 2B column of 2008, I knew it was a matter of talking about the trees and ignoring the forest. After all, pundits almost never see the big stuff coming, just the minutia.As long as you overlook 2008's business-travel forest—the oil-price spike and subsequent fall, the 78 failed carriers worldwide and the late-year collapse of travel demand—I think you'll agree that I nailed the trees. I accurately predicted the rush to London's Heathrow Airport at the dawn of "open skies" over the Atlantic; the merger of Delta and Northwest; the introduction of internet service on jets; the continued expansion of the hotel industry; and even the collapse and umpteenth government makeover of Alitalia and Olympic, Europe's perennially weak sisters of the skies.So what business-travel trees do I see for 2009? Here are some of the things we're guaranteed to talk about. What the forest will look like in 2009 is anybody's guess.Hotels: Too Many Beds, Not Enough Heads
Five years of over-development has already begun to haunt the worldwide lodging industry. Guest traffic and nightly room rates have plunged in recent months and the 2009 outlook is grim, not least because hundreds more properties are about to gush out of the pipeline. Although hard numbers are difficult to come by, some experts believe that more hotels are upside-down on their mortgages than residential properties. Business travelers will be the winners on the top line: We're already seeing startling price discounts and value-added offers and corporate travel departments are ringing sizable rate reductions from major hotel chains. The bad news: Hotels will cut back on services, close restaurants, skimp on staff and eliminate perks. Some older properties, even a few well-known resorts, may simply close their doors in 2009. In other words, you'll pay less—and get less.
Five years of over-development has already begun to haunt the worldwide lodging industry. Guest traffic and nightly room rates have plunged in recent months and the 2009 outlook is grim, not least because hundreds more properties are about to gush out of the pipeline. Although hard numbers are difficult to come by, some experts believe that more hotels are upside-down on their mortgages than residential properties. Business travelers will be the winners on the top line: We're already seeing startling price discounts and value-added offers and corporate travel departments are ringing sizable rate reductions from major hotel chains. The bad news: Hotels will cut back on services, close restaurants, skimp on staff and eliminate perks. Some older properties, even a few well-known resorts, may simply close their doors in 2009. In other words, you'll pay less—and get less.
Travel Escapes
There’s a wonderful scene in Frank Capra’s holiday masterpiece, It’s a Wonderful Life, when Lionel Barrymore’s Mr. Potter tries to buy out Jimmy Stewart’s George Bailey.The nasty, gnarly Potter offers the credulous George a big salary, the finest house in Bedford Falls, and the opportunity to do what Bailey has longed to do all his life: travel. Knowing George is desperate for a Bedford Falls exit strategy, Potter dangles business trips to New York and Europe as part of the employment package.Every time I see Barrymore and Stewart spar, I can’t help but yell at the screen, “Don’t do it George! Don’t become a business traveler! It would be better if you were never born!”I know that’s not what Capra was going for, but I can’t help myself. To use the vernacular of the movie, I’m just a warped, frustrated, middle-aged frequent flier. I can’t watch a flick without seeing the business-travel angle.And since this is the one week of the year when I know that most of us are not on the road, I suggest you take the time to relax, fire up the flat screen in the living room and find the angles in my favorite business-travel movies of all time.North by NorthwestThe 1959 Hitchcock classic is best known for the remarkable scene where Cary Grant is chased through a field by a crop-duster and its dazzling climax atop Mount Rushmore. But check out the business-travel atmospherics: Grant at the Oak Bar in New York’s Plaza Hotel; Grant and Leo G. Carroll at Midway Airport, when it was Chicago’s only airport; and Grant in a battle of wits with the front-desk clerk at Chicago’s Ambassador Hotel. And don’t miss the scenes on the overnight New York-to-Chicago train. You’ll wonder why you’ve never met anyone as gorgeous as Eva Marie Saint or Cary Grant on a flight.Only YouSeven years after he struck gold with Moonstruck, producer-director Norman Jewison tried a similar formula in Italy. The result, 1994’s Only You, is a clunker. But there’s a hilarious, if hokey, scene at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport, a nice set piece involving the concierge at the Hotel Danieli in Venice, and breathtaking scenery shot in and around Le Sirenuse Hotel in Positano on the Amalfi Coast. Watch for wonderful performances by Robert Downey Jr. and Bonnie Hunt, who steal every scene from the star, a very young Marisa Tomei. The payoff involves a no-nonsense (and previously unseen) business traveler who solves the entire dilemma of the 109-minute movie in about 30 seconds—as he’s rushing to catch a flight. That guy’s my hero.
No Highway in the SkyA British import from 1951, with an international cast led by James Stewart, Marlene Dietrich, and Glynis Johns. Stewart is Stewart—bumbling, befuddled, distracted, lovable, and heroic—and he saves the day by bucking the establishment over the safety of an important new passenger plane. Johns plays the quintessential 1950s stewardess who falls in love with Stewart, moves in with him, and then organizes his life. Corny, charming—and weirdly compelling because the plot is eerily similar to the mid-50s catastrophes that befell the De Havilland Comet, the world’s first commercial jet.Weekend at the WaldorfAn Americanized remake of 1932’s Grand Hotel, this 1945 version has a gorgeous cast (Ginger Rogers, Lana Turner, and the almost-as-pretty Van Johnson and Walter Pidgeon) and a thousand beauty shots of New York’s Waldorf-Astoria in its heyday. It’s also got Xaviar Cugat, who really ran the Waldorf house band back in the day when hotels had house bands. This is the antidote for too many stays at Hilton Garden Inns, Courtyards by Marriott, and Four Points by Sheraton. I should know: I did a weekend at the Waldorf last year with my frequent-flying wife and we had a marvelous time comparing the hotel then and now. The V.I.P.’sAnother remake of Grand Hotel, this 1963 British flick moves the action to London’s Heathrow Airport in the early days of jet travel, when the “jet set” was a new phenomenon. An all-star cast (Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Louis Jourdan, Rod Taylor, Orson Welles, Margaret Rutherford, Maggie Smith, and David Frost) is thrown into a V.I.P. lounge to wait out a long, fog-induced delay. The Terence Rattigan script is supposedly based on Vivian Leigh’s real-life attempt to leave Laurence Olivier for Peter Finch. Which might explain why everything about the movie is bizarre: the fashions, the acting, the plot lines, and the depictions of global business and business travel. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll make fun of Elizabeth Taylor’s Givenchy togs—and then you’ll wonder why your life on the road isn’t nearly so glamorous.Décalage HoraireRetitled Jet Lag for its American release, this 2002 French film was Juliette Binoche’s first outing after Chocolat. She plays an unhappy hairdresser running away from her life and into unhappy celebrity chef Jean Reno at Paris’ Charles DeGaulle Airport. They dislike each other on sight, which means they must share the last available room at the airport hotel during a flight disruption. You already know how this goes: brief affair, lots of angst, lives altered, and what the French consider a happy ending. But it is surprisingly effective in showing how a business traveler (Reno) and a tourist (Binoche) react differently to basic travel snafus. Grosse Point BlankThis may be the best movie you’ve never seen. It was in and out of theaters so fast in 1997 that I’m not sure it ever made in-flight movie rotations. It is dark and disturbing—an assassin (John Cusack) goes to his 10-year high school reunion in search of his life and his true love (Minnie Driver)—but it is also a laugh-out-loud comedy. Watch how Cusack plays his character, especially in the hotel-room scenes, and then tell me he isn’t playing a stressed-out business traveler. Pay attention to Joan Cusack in the tiny but extraordinary role of the office assistant who keeps her frequent-flying boss on track and on schedule. There are also wonderful supporting performances by Jeremy Piven, Dan Ackroyd, and Hank Azaria.The Fine Print…Planes, Trains, and Automobiles is the life-on-the-road comedy starring John Candy and Steve Martin. The 1987 box office hit is probably the most successful business-travel film ever. It’s funny, of course, but, for my tastes, a little too much like our real lives—and it makes me squirm.
No Highway in the SkyA British import from 1951, with an international cast led by James Stewart, Marlene Dietrich, and Glynis Johns. Stewart is Stewart—bumbling, befuddled, distracted, lovable, and heroic—and he saves the day by bucking the establishment over the safety of an important new passenger plane. Johns plays the quintessential 1950s stewardess who falls in love with Stewart, moves in with him, and then organizes his life. Corny, charming—and weirdly compelling because the plot is eerily similar to the mid-50s catastrophes that befell the De Havilland Comet, the world’s first commercial jet.Weekend at the WaldorfAn Americanized remake of 1932’s Grand Hotel, this 1945 version has a gorgeous cast (Ginger Rogers, Lana Turner, and the almost-as-pretty Van Johnson and Walter Pidgeon) and a thousand beauty shots of New York’s Waldorf-Astoria in its heyday. It’s also got Xaviar Cugat, who really ran the Waldorf house band back in the day when hotels had house bands. This is the antidote for too many stays at Hilton Garden Inns, Courtyards by Marriott, and Four Points by Sheraton. I should know: I did a weekend at the Waldorf last year with my frequent-flying wife and we had a marvelous time comparing the hotel then and now. The V.I.P.’sAnother remake of Grand Hotel, this 1963 British flick moves the action to London’s Heathrow Airport in the early days of jet travel, when the “jet set” was a new phenomenon. An all-star cast (Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Louis Jourdan, Rod Taylor, Orson Welles, Margaret Rutherford, Maggie Smith, and David Frost) is thrown into a V.I.P. lounge to wait out a long, fog-induced delay. The Terence Rattigan script is supposedly based on Vivian Leigh’s real-life attempt to leave Laurence Olivier for Peter Finch. Which might explain why everything about the movie is bizarre: the fashions, the acting, the plot lines, and the depictions of global business and business travel. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll make fun of Elizabeth Taylor’s Givenchy togs—and then you’ll wonder why your life on the road isn’t nearly so glamorous.Décalage HoraireRetitled Jet Lag for its American release, this 2002 French film was Juliette Binoche’s first outing after Chocolat. She plays an unhappy hairdresser running away from her life and into unhappy celebrity chef Jean Reno at Paris’ Charles DeGaulle Airport. They dislike each other on sight, which means they must share the last available room at the airport hotel during a flight disruption. You already know how this goes: brief affair, lots of angst, lives altered, and what the French consider a happy ending. But it is surprisingly effective in showing how a business traveler (Reno) and a tourist (Binoche) react differently to basic travel snafus. Grosse Point BlankThis may be the best movie you’ve never seen. It was in and out of theaters so fast in 1997 that I’m not sure it ever made in-flight movie rotations. It is dark and disturbing—an assassin (John Cusack) goes to his 10-year high school reunion in search of his life and his true love (Minnie Driver)—but it is also a laugh-out-loud comedy. Watch how Cusack plays his character, especially in the hotel-room scenes, and then tell me he isn’t playing a stressed-out business traveler. Pay attention to Joan Cusack in the tiny but extraordinary role of the office assistant who keeps her frequent-flying boss on track and on schedule. There are also wonderful supporting performances by Jeremy Piven, Dan Ackroyd, and Hank Azaria.The Fine Print…Planes, Trains, and Automobiles is the life-on-the-road comedy starring John Candy and Steve Martin. The 1987 box office hit is probably the most successful business-travel film ever. It’s funny, of course, but, for my tastes, a little too much like our real lives—and it makes me squirm.
Time travel
When I visited the Bay Area last week, I first went to Google and the next day, for old time’s sake, I met a long-ago colleague in the historic John’s Grill in San Francisco and then revisited the Chronicle and former Examiner newsrooms for the first time in decades. I had left the Examiner in 1981. The contrast could not have been greater and the ghosts more evident. Google was bright and shining and optimistic with ideas and invention. The Chronicle was dark and dusty and depressing (and the Examiner was already as good as dead).
Well, now the Chronicle may die as Hearst announces - like the Star-Ledger and plenty of other papers before it - that if concessions and cuts are not found, the paper will fold. San Francisco would be the first major American city left without a daily newspaper.
Well, now the Chronicle may die as Hearst announces - like the Star-Ledger and plenty of other papers before it - that if concessions and cuts are not found, the paper will fold. San Francisco would be the first major American city left without a daily newspaper.
I see this as an opportunity squandered. Here was the paper atop Silicon Valley that should have seen the changes in our world clearer than any other, that should have anticipated the importance of October, 1994, when the commercial browser was introduced, that could have reinvented itself over a luxurious decade and a half. But now, instead, it’s hurry-up-or-die for the Chron.
I say in my entrepreneurial journalism class that for the first time since William Randolph Hearst himself, journalists can think and act like entrepreneurs. They can start new news enterprises with the vigor of a WRH or a Nick Denton or a Mike Arrington or a Krishna Bharat (the creator of GoogleNews) or a Upendra Shardnand (my partner, founder of Daylife).
If - Hearst forbid - the Chronicle dies, I have no doubt that something will rise from its dust and ashes to serve the news needs of the Bay Area. But the transition will not be orderly, as I once thought it could have been. There will be destruction as people in that newsroom - a few of them, a very few of them, old colleagues and friends - lose their jobs. But then a new WRH will come into town and create a new Examiner for a new age. Bet on it.
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