National Geographic Today
National Geographic Today co-host Susan Roesgen talks to National Geographic Traveler magazine editor-in-chief Keith Bellows on the opportunities that have opened up for the leisure traveler now that the U.S. business climate has cooled.
Susan: Well how's this for a silver lining: With a downturn in the economy, businesses cut back on business travel and you, the leisure traveler, may get a good deal.
To find out what's happening, Keith Bellows joins us, the ever-optimistic editor of National Geographic Traveler magazine.
Keith, just how bad is the business of business travel?
Keith: It's bad, and it's probably going to get a little worse. Sixty-eight percent of the folks that book business travel across corporate America have reported that they will be slashing business travel. U.S. $775 million was lost by nine airlines in America last quarter, and it's reaching everyone. It's reaching the rental car companies, the hotel chains—even room movie rentals and luggage sales are down. You're seeing a real ripple effect here.
Susan: Well let's take the airline industry for instance, how much do they really depend on the business traveler as opposed to the leisure traveler?
Keith: The business traveler is critical; they build all their business models on that. The reason for this is because the business traveler tends to have to book a little later in the game so the airlines can charge more. They can charge a greater premium. When those business travelers stop traveling, the airlines have got to be able to fill those seats and they fill it with leisure travelers, you and me.
Susan: Now I just booked a flight a few weeks ago for a trip coming up, but the fares seemed about the same as before the economy took this turn. When will we start seeing this change?
Keith: The economy is only starting to turn. They think that the hotel chains, the rental chains, and the airlines chains are only now beginning to realize that this isn't just a blip, that this is something that they've got to start managing. You may start seeing many, many more discounts especially on some of the more obscure routes. You're also going to see a flip side to that because they will start cutting the number of planes and also using smaller planes—but there are going to be discounts out there. Watch for them in the next couple of months because you are going to find them.
Susan: Do you have any advice for us or tricks on how to find these deals?
Keith: That's funny. I was just looking for a cheaper fare this morning and the places to start looking are sites like Expedia and Travelocity. Look at Orbitz. Orbitz has 450 airlines worldwide on their computer system. For my money, they are really beginning to give you some deals because this is the airlines offering direct deals. I think it is worth going on there, they have a very good search engine.
The real thing is to do something that a lot of people don't think about. Go online and go to a search engine and put in price comparison or fare finder. What you will find, depending on what search engine you use (I particularly like Google), is that they give you a bunch of options, some of which you may not have thought of. Then it is just a matter of pick and peck, but you will find some deals out there. There's no one place that you will find all the deals.
