The travel industry will lift itself out of post-crisis decline in 2011 as a 5% rise in international tourist arrivals brings activity back above its 2008 level, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council. France will see the largest absolute rise in international visitors, even with a growth rate a shade lower than China’s.
Leisure travel will bounce back faster than business travel; it will be five years before business travellers exercise their expense accounts with the same gusto as in 2008.
After perky profit growth in 2010, earnings for the global airline industry will slow in 2011 despite higher traffic, although European carriers will hover around break-even. Boeing will at last deliver its first 787 Dreamliner—three years late. Facing claims for compensation owing to delays, it will hope to work quickly through its 850-odd order book for the next-generation aircraft.
Revenue per room at American hotels will climb by 6.7% in 2011, more than the 5.4% rise in British room rates, according to PwC. Supply largely explains the difference, with few new rooms being added in America compared with steady growth in Britain, especially in London ahead of the 2012 Olympics. The reopening of the Victorian neo-gothic Midland Grand Hotel at St Pancras railway station in the British capital, closed as a hotel in 1935 and vacant since 1988, will mark one of the showpiece events in the hotel industry, if only as a symbol of a sector gaining confidence after lean times.
To watch: The great outdoors 2.0. With budgets tight, travellers are turning to camping. But communing with nature need not mean roughing it. The rise of “glamping” (glamorous camping) will attract more city slickers to the country-side, with operators offering visitors the chance to get close—but not too close—to nature in tents, huts and yurts decked out with modern conveniences. Mintel, a market-research firm, notes that even less glamorous campsites are beginning to offer Wi-Fi, comforting those who feel lost without connectivity. For the -modern camper, GPS-enabled smart-phones will now feature applications that help identify birds, tie knots and purport to repel insects via high-frequency tones.
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