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This week in Opportunities:

Online Travel Vendors on Buying Spree!
Carnival named to "The BusinessWeek 50"
There's a new leader in hospitality...
European Bookings Back on Track
March Sees Overall Boost in New Jobs
Most Popular form of Business Travel has Bright Future
New Opportunities!
Executive Movers! See who's going where?
Travel Executive Employment Report

TOP NEWS & TRENDS!

Major Online Travel Vendors on Buying Spree

No matter how you look at it, one of the major travel industry segments that just keeps on growing is online travel. The major online booking sites are adding to their power by buying more wholesaler capacity, corporate travel specialists and international units. Expedia last week purchased Activity World, based in Maui, a reseller of tours and activities in Hawaii. Expedia already owns Classic Custom Vacations, a major Hawaii wholesaler. Expedia parent InterActiveGroup also bought Egencia, a European business travel company with 500 corporate customers, from Carlyle Group. The company will be rebranded as Expedia Corporate Travel and merged into Expedia's corporate travel unit, which has now been expanded to Europe. Meanwhile, Travelocity said Travelocity Europe, a joint venture with Otto Freizeit und Touristik, would buy travelchannel.de (www.travelchannel.de ), a leading German online travel site, subject to the approval of European regulatory authorities. Travelocity Europe will broaden its distribution in Germany while simultaneously expanding its overall position in Europe. Prices for both the Expedia and Travelocity transactions were not disclosed. Online travel has kept growing because it has vast access to capital and good cash flow. What that also means is that the major online travel companies are looking to add more top jobs in the months ahead.

Carnival Named Business Week 50 Top Performer

Want to work for a company that isn't just a force in the travel industry, but in all industries combined? You need look no further than Carnival Corporation & plc, the world's largest cruise operator, which was just included in the "The Business Week 50," a ranking of the top-performing companies of the S&P 500. Carnival is the only leisure travel company included in the annual list, featured in the April 5, 2004, issue of the magazine. "The BusinessWeek 50" recognizes "companies that symbolize the best in Corporate America, both in operational performance and in their ability to convert that success into lucrative gains for shareholders." Rankings are based on revenue growth, profits, net margins, debt levels, sales volume, and shareholder returns over both one- and three-year periods. Carnival Corporation & plc is the only company in the world to be included in both the S&P 500 and the FTSE 100 indices and most recently was added to the NYSE U.S. 100 Index. Its portfolio includes 12 cruise brands in North America, Europe and Australia, including Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Seabourn Cruise Line, Windstar Cruises, AIDA, Costa Cruises, Cunard Line, Ocean Village, P&O Cruises, Swan Hellenic and P&O Cruises Australia. Together, these brands operate 75 ships totaling more than 123,000 berths with nine new ships scheduled for delivery between April 2004 and mid- 2006.

Inter-Continental Ranks as the Biggest Group

There's a new leader in the hospitality industry, so if you're looking to join the biggest hotel group, look no further than Inter-Continental Hotels Group. MKG Consulting, which just ranked the 10 largest international hotel groups and the 20 largest brands throughout the world, said Inter-Continental, by acquiring Candlewood Suites last year, has leaped over former leader Cendant Corp., which actually recorded a drop in its supply of rooms as a result of a policy to raise standards in its network. Meanwhile, Best Western remains the brand with the widest global coverage, with a very slight increase in the number of properties under its management. The two hotel brands that expanded the most in 2003 were Express by Holiday Inn (up 10.2 percent in number of rooms) and Novotel (up 7.3 percent in rooms). The top 10 hotel groups in 2003 in terms of the number of rooms, were (in order): Inter-Continental, Cendant, Marriott International, Accor, Choice International, Hilton Corp., Best Western, Starwood, Carlson Hospitality Worldwide and Hilton International. The top 20 hotel brands in terms of the number of rooms are Best Western, Holiday Inn, Comfort Inns & Suites, Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Days Inn of America, Sheraton Hotels & Resorts, Hampton Inns, Super 8 Motels, Express by Holiday Inn, Ramada Franchise Systems, Radisson Hotels Worldwide, Motel 6, Quality Inns & Suites, Hyatt Hotels, Hilton Hotels, Courtyard by Marriott, Mercure, Hilton International, Ibis and Novotel.

Does Europe Growth Equal Job Growth?

Despite some of the recent bad news for travel and tourism coming out of Europe these days-from terrorist attacks in Spain to the slumping value of the U.S. dollar against the euro-travel bookings to Europe from the U.S. appear to be back on track this year. New York-based Donald N. Martin & Co. just released a survey that shows U.S. arrivals in Europe could hit 12.4 million in 2004, the highest number since the record 12.8 million visitors set in 2000. U.S. travel to Europe had dropped nearly 12 percent in April 2003, but began to recover last July, when U.S. arrivals U.S. arrivals rose 19.5 percent compared to the same month in 2002. That was followed by a 21 percent jump in August. In December, U.S. arrivals hit 888,149, up 6.9 percent compared with the same month in the previous year, and 4 percent higher than the record 867,476 set in December 2000. The record-setting performance didn't continue into 2004, however. Donald N. Martin forecasts 10 to 12 percent growth through April, and up to 13 percent this summer. So what does this mean for the job picture this year? Tour operators that specialize in Europe have been in economy mode for much of the last three years, but now may be looking to expand sales and staff. Meanwhile, look for top hotel chains with properties in Europe to rev up marketing and sales efforts here.

March Sees Overall Boost in New Jobs

The nation's overall job picture got some good news in March, when the U.S. Department of Labor said 308,000 new jobs were created, the largest employment growth in four years. That comes after just 21,000 jobs were created in February. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao said job growth has increased in all sectors, with construction seeing the largest job gains. What does that mean for the travel industry. If you drill down into the numbers, the industry isn't seeing massive new job creation, although things are picking up. The number of new jobs in the air transportation sector surprisingly increased more than 2 percent. Meanwhile, the number of new jobs in the accommodations and food services segment were up more than 25 percent, though most of that growth occurred in the food services side. No word on how many new jobs are being created in other industry segments-such as cruises, tours, travel agents and car rental companies-because the Labor Department doesn't track such statistics.

Look for a Bright Future in Meetings Market

So what's the business travel industry segment that potentially has the brightest future? If you ask Peter Yesawich, managing partner of travel marketing firm Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown & Russell (YPB&R), it's the meetings and conventions market. Yesawich, in an article in Meetings News, said "meetings and conventions is the only segment of the business travel market that has a bright future, and it's the most popular form of business travel."

GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES!

Agency Networks Target Expansion

These day most travel agencies belong to a consortium or marketing network, which provides them with access to higher commissions, marketing support, technology assistance, training and a network of preferred suppliers. Needless to say, these consortiums and marketing networks are expanding rapidly, both domestically and internationally, as new agency members join them. And that means many are looking for more marketing, sales, technology and operational assistance. International expansion also is a growing trend among such groups. For example, Radius, a network of corporate travel agencies, has added Harvey World Travel of Australia as its newest member. A division of Harvey World that includes other major corporate travel agencies in Australia has joined Radius' business development group, which focuses on growing the network's multinational business. Harvey World Travel has 550 branch locations in Australia, New Zealand and Southern Africa.

Boutique Hotels Still on Growth Track

The market in boutique hotel brands in the U.S. just keeps growing, which means that the companies marketing those brands could soon be looking to expand their management teams on both the marketing and operational side. Such boutique firms as Kimpton Hotels & Resorts and Joie de Vivre Hotels, both based in San Francisco, are rapidly increasing the number of unique and stylish small properties that they manage. For example, Kimpton last month announced expansion plans for 2004 and 2005. The company will open Onyx Hotel and Ruby Room lounge in downtown Boston in June, followed in July by the New York debut of 70 Park Avenue, which will include a 74-seat restaurant and a 40-seat lounge. Finally, in April 2005 Kimpton plans to open the Hotel Solamar in San Diego, a 235-room property that will be the company's first hotel in that market. For more information on Kimpton, visit www.kimpton.com.

New Ships for Fledgling Oceania Cruises

As we've noted several times in this newsletter, the major cruise lines aren't the only ones on the growth track these days. Oceania Cruises, which began operating two years ago, just christened the 684-passenger Insignia, the line's second ship, in Monte Carlo on March 28. Insignia, the former Renaissance Cruises R1, is nearly identical to the Regatta, which was relaunched July 2003. Meanwhile, Oceania's Nautica will begin charter operations in April with its first regular sailing scheduled for May 7, 2005. When it began in 2002, Oceania hired a slew of top staff in sales, marketing and operations jobs. As it expands further this year, look for the company to be seeking even more help. For more information on Oceania, visit www.oceaniacruises.com.

Sol Melia Expands Hotel Empire in Caribbean

A Spanish hotel chain is becoming a major force in the Caribbean and Latin American markets. Sol Melia just opened the 500-suite Paradisus Puerto Rico all-inclusive resort in Puerto Rico. The company invested $150 million in the hotel, which is the only hotel in Puerto Rico to be part of The Leading Hotels of the World. With the opening of the Paradisus Puerto Rico, Sol Melia now has six Paradisus Resorts in Latin America and the Caribbean. For more information on Sol Melia, visit www.solmelia.com.

EXECUTIVE MOVERS!

AIRLINES: Southwest Airlines has formed a dedicated a management team to support its corporate booking tool, www.SWABIZ.com , in the business travel market. A full-time sales force has been hired that includes Terry Eisenbart, covering the western states, Joyce Hobbs overseeing the central region, Kevin Sullivan in the Northeast markets, and Alison Hoefler in the Southeast. Scott Anderson, newly named as manager of national accounts, heads up the entire effort. Anderson reports to Rob Brown, Southwest's director of corporate sales, who is in charge of the new SWABIZ team.

CRUISES: Costa Crociere, the Carnival Corp. which operates Costa Cruise Lines, has reorganized its management structure under Chairman and CEO Pier Luigi Foschi. Antonio Di Rosa, former MSC Cruises commercial manager, has been hired as director-cruise operations, while Gianni Onorato, former director cruise operations, has been promoted to general manager, a new post. Meanwhile, Mario Martini has been promoted to senior vice president-sales and marketing for Europe and rest of the World, and former financial director Beniamino Maltese will take on the newly created position of senior vice president-finance and administrationÖHolland America Line, another Carnival Corp. division, named Joe Palermo as project director for its "Signature of Excellence" program. Palermo, who reports directly to Chairman and CEO A. Kirk Lanterman, is responsible for implementation of the $225m Signature of Excellence initiatives across Holland America's 13-ship fleet. He has held management positions at American Airlines, Sceptre Tours, and Cunard Line, where he was senior vice president of customer service worldwide.

DESTINATIONS: Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority named Mya Lake Reyes as manager of diversity marketing. Reyes, who previously worked for MGM Grand, will oversee marketing and development of domestic leisure and convention business to the African-American, Hispanic, Asian and Native-American markets. She replaces Roosevelt Toston, who retired in JanuaryÖBrian Harry, president of TIDCO, the tourism and promotional development company for Trinidad and Tobago, resigned effective March 28. No replacement has been named.

HOTELS & RESORTS: Alexander Kim was named vice president and general manager of conference services and banquet operations for Atlantis, Paradise Island, the mega-resort owned by Kerzner International.

TRAVEL AGENTS: Results Travel, a travel agency franchise group owned by Carlson Companies, named John Risner as general manager. Risner mostly recently was Results' director of franchise development. He was instrumental in the successful launch of Results Travel and has continued to drive its effective sales force, which has made Results Travel the top new franchise company in the United States according to Entrepreneur magazine.

TRAVEL TECHNOLOGY: CoachQuote.com, an online booking engine, has tapped Scott Pearson as vice president of Internet distribution and development. Pearson was previously vice president of sales and travel industry marketing for Choice Hotels International's North American Region. He also served as vice president travel industry relations and B2B marketing for Trip.com before it was sold to Galileo International, and was vice president at Hertz Corp. directing travel industry, association, group sales and marketing for 12 years. He also held sales and marketing posts with Budget Rent a Car and Dollar Rent a Car. CoachQuote has developed online products for both the hoteliers and group travel planners.

TOUR OPERATORS: Gary Hogan has resigned as president of Pleasant Hawaiian Holidays and Pleasant Island Holidays to head up a redevelopment of Maui's Royal Lahaina Resort, oversee the Hogan family's charitable efforts in Hawaii, and explore other opportunities. Hogan's father Ed Hogan founded Pleasant Holidays and then sold it two years ago to the Automobile Club of Southern California. Tim Irwin still oversees all of Pleasant Holiday as president.

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