BBC article about the effect of recent times on the travel industry.

 Here's a link to the original article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11362694

Air travel and planes have had a hard time. Thankfully I prefer to go by ground, so haven't been hit by all the recent price hikes the industry has taken.

The past 10 years have tested the travel industry's crisis management skills to the limit.

Terrorism, recession, the SARS virus, strikes, the Icelandic ash cloud: the list piles up.
Even the peaks and troughs of economic cycles can hit the travel industry more than other sectors.
It is a sobering thought that despite a huge expansion in the travel industry - fuelled by opportunities created by the internet and emerging markets - consistent profitability for many airlines and travel-related firms remains elusive.
Given this state of flux, where are future profits to come from? More specifically, what are the travel trends that will secure consistent revenue streams?
A major new report attempts to answer these questions, drawing on interviews with leading executives, including from Lufthansa, Easyjet, Carlson Wagonlit Travel, analysts and academics.
Written by the forecasting group Oxford Economics, in partnership with travel technology company Amadeus, The Travel Goldrush 2020 says the industry will have to shift business models as it adjusts to changing demographics and new customer demands.
Struggling sectorAs they enter the next decade, airlines start from a position of weakness.
Having lost $9.9bn (£6.3bn, 7.5bn euros) in 2009, the global aviation industry is expected to return to profit of about $2.5bn in 2010.
But this figure only represents a net profit margin of 0.5%.
Furthermore, the global profit figure obscures the fact that losses in Europe will be about $2.8bn.
It is growth areas in Asia and Latin America that will lift the sector as a whole into profit.
Travel agents, too, have been struggling.

Global tourism arrivals fell by 42% in 2009 to 880 million. Tourism receipts of $852bn were 5.7% below the levels of 2008, indicating that people were spending less per trip if they did travel.

Maybe the woes of planes and aviation will make people rediscover the magic of TRAINS.

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