Two giant tourism tragedies: Maui will rebound, Acapulco will never return to glory

The island of Maui, Hawaii suffered massive destruction and the death of 97 people caused by wildfires whipped by the wind. This was followed just two weeks ago by a massive hurricane Otis, with winds of 150 mph killing over an estimated 100 people in Acapulco, Mexico. Looking at photos from both tragedies brings tears to your eyes. On the bright side we are starting to see that tourism is starting to slowly rebuild in Maui. People are respectful of the situation; however, they also want to support the tourism industry that is the heart and soul of the island. Acapulco on the other hand has been down and out for the last 20 years. From the 1950s to the 1970s, Acapulco was the king of Mexico’s resorts with some calling it the “Pearl of the Pacific”. Famous stars such as Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, Cary Grant and John and Jacqueline Kennedy vacationed there and made Acapulco the glitziest resort area south of the border. For the last 20 years Acapulco has been taken over by over a dozen crime syndicates who practice trafficking drugs, kidnapping, and extortion. So while Maui is climbing back into the world of tourism, Acapulco will never be able to overcome the double barrel blow of massive crime and physical destruction brought by hurricane Otis as explained in this article.  CLICK HERE to see and hear more from our podcast.

It looks and feels like the travel industry bull market is starting to soften – I look around and read the headlines. “Delta cutting staff”, “FedEx laying off pilots”, “United and American cutting flights”, “Southwest and Alaska Airlines offer $59 airfares”, “Avis revenue flat”. All these headlines suggest to me that the post COVID pent up demand may be reaching a crescendo that is about to moderate in the coming months. We have already seen great prices this winter both domestically and internationally. Business class prices to Europe continue to be amazingly low. Even Delta Air Lines has launched a frequent flyer mileage sale to Europe this past week. This all screams “We have seats to fill”. While part of this is understandably seasonal, I suspect some is economic headwinds. CLICK HERE to find out more.

2024 promises to be the year of the BIG conventions – COVID killed almost all large conventions for the last 2 years. While meetings and incentives came out of hibernation in 2023, it appears that 2024 will finally be the year that the GIANT conventions come back in full force. CLICK HERE to listen to Paul and I discuss this more.

The average price quoted for breakfast in Phoenix next year was $78 – I was shocked to find out that the average price of breakfast for a small meeting in Phoenix next year was quoted by 10 hotel RFPs to be $78 including the 35% service fee. The average lunch was $4 more for $82. Add to that a plated dinner of over $100 and a company meeting will need to budget $260 a day for food (without alcohol). This is crazy. The price of the rooms per night was actually less than the daily cost of the food and beverage (F&B). Please beware of not comparing the F&B cost and only rely on comparing the cost of the nightly hotel room rate when comparing hotel pricing for your next event. CLICK HERE to hear more. 

I think a lot of meeting planners for small meetings will start looking at having their meals and dinners at off-site restaurants – With the food and beverage costs at hotels listed above going to the moon, I think more and more people will look at finding great restaurants and venues off-site to have dinner. The only drawback is that the transportation cost can easily add $20 per person to the cost of the meal if you have to rent a motorcoach to get your people to an off-site venue. On the plus side, often times the off-site restaurant will offer much better food and ambiance. CLICK HERE for more. 

I am about to take a flight that lasts 17 hours – This next week I am traveling to Bangkok (BKK) , Thailand and then on to New Delhi, India for a business trip. Although the 17 hour flight sounds daunting, I am blessed to be able to find a super-duper, moderately priced business class airfare that will allow me to travel with a lay flat seat. It is hard to justify the 3X expense of flying in business class. For 30 years I traveled the world in coach class. For the last 10 years I have generated enough credit card miles to redeem for airline frequent flyer business class tickets. I think you can now officially say I am “spoiled”. CLICK HERE to hear more.

Did you know we help companies to earn and redeem millions of miles for free airline tickets? – Executive Travel has been a leader in the travel management industry in helping companies and individuals learn how to earn and maximize the value of their credit card and airline frequent flyer miles. Our program makes redeeming miles for tickets super easy. Some people are amazed to find out that our team can often show companies ways to earn 2% to 6% simply by using certain credit cards. We would be happy to show you how easy it is to maximize the revenue you can generate from your credit card program. 

Check out our Weekly Travel Alert Podcast – Did you know our Weekly Travel Alert Video Podcast is available on YouTube plus all your favorite podcast stations, Spotify, Google Podcast, Apple Podcast ? Each week we are adding new and upgraded features. Please jump on board. CLICK HERE to see the Weekly Travel Alert podcast that is hot off the presses.