GLG News by Cruise Line Experts

Chicke FitzgeraldChief Executive OfficerSOLUTIONZ HOLDINGS

What will happen to the gaming industry as travel to Las Vegas declines?

December 5, 2008

Analysis of:Travel Numbers see steep decline [in Las Vegas] | www.klas-tv.com

Las Vegas has always enjoyed occupancy rates higher than the national average, but in the last few months, the economic situation plaguing the country has hit them hard.  Occupancy is down to 84%, which rivals post September 11th levels.  In the month of October, Las Vegas had a drop of 13% year over year, or nearly a half a million visitors.  Historically there has been a direct correlation between occupancy and gaming revenues.  That correlation weakened somewhat in the 90s when Las Vegas attempted to become a family destination.  Now that the city is squarely back in the "Sin City" role, the tie between hotel occupancy and gaming is very strong again. Factors to watch: - Air capacity and frequency declines - Visitor statistics - Occupancy rates - Proportional gaming revenue declines

Chicke FitzgeraldChief Executive OfficerSOLUTIONZ HOLDINGS

Financial markets react to the historic election of Obama - what of the travel industry?

November 6, 2008

Analysis of:Asia cheers Obama win, but Europe down | robots.cnnfn.com

With the economy as a clear priority of the new administration, the world markets reacted to the election of Barack Obama, with investors voting with their wallets. In Asia, the Nikkei, the major index for the Tokyo Stock Exchange, closed up 4.5%. South Korea's Kospi composite index finished with a 2.4% advance, according to Dow Jones. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong ended up 3.7%. The Australian All Ordinaries index was up almost 3% at its close and the markets in Taiwan and the Philippines ended lower. European stocks and U.S. futures fell after Democrat Barack Obama was projected to have been elected President of the United States. London's FT-100 and Paris' CAC-40 eeach fell more than 2%, while Germany's Dax was about 1.5% lower. It remains to be seen how the markets will close today in Europe and how the US markets will react. But it is the longer term results that will matter.

Chicke FitzgeraldChief Executive OfficerSOLUTIONZ HOLDINGS

Is the reported "airline recovery" just the upside of the jetfuel roller coaster?

November 4, 2008

Analysis of:US airlines pull out of a tailspin | us.ft.com

Airlines are enjoying much lower fuel costs than they did in the summer of 2008.  Perhaps the use of the word "enjoy" and the notion that recovery is around the corner is a bit like a weatherman in the middle of a hurricane talking about tomorrow's sunshine.  At least that was the observation of a writer in Airline Weekly this week.  When the prices were high, the airlines kicked into high gear, cutting costs, trimming schedules, parking aircraft in the desert and finding ways to charge passengers for various services, previously offered gratis.  Now that the prices are low (remembering that everything is relative), will they hand off a slice of those profits to consumer?  Not likely! And what will be the impact on the other sectors of the industry?  The GDS companies depend on airline ticket sales for 90% of their revenues.  And the hospitality industry also caters to the air traveler as their primary market.  What will become of them?

Chicke FitzgeraldChief Executive OfficerSOLUTIONZ HOLDINGS

Is the reported "recovery" just the upside of the jetfuel roller coaster?

November 4, 2008

Analysis of:US airlines pull out of a tailspin | us.ft.com

Airlines are enjoying much lower fuel costs than they did in the summer of 2008.  Perhaps the use of the word "enjoy" and the notion that recovery is around the corner is a bit like a weatherman in the middle of a hurricane talking about tomorrow's sunshine.  At least that was the observation of a writer in Airline Weekly this week.  When the prices were high, the airlines kicked into high gear, cutting costs, trimming schedules, parking aircraft in the desert and finding ways to charge passengers for various services, previously offered gratis.  Now that the prices are low (remembering that everything is relative), will they hand off a slice of those profits to consumer?  Not likely! And what will be the impact on the other sectors of the industry?  The GDS companies depend on airline ticket sales for 90% of their revenues.  And the hospitality industry also caters to the air traveler as their primary market.  What will become of them?

Chicke FitzgeraldChief Executive OfficerSOLUTIONZ HOLDINGS

Totally myopic view of the travel industry will not stimulate growth

September 9, 2008

Analysis of:Sector Snap: US online travel stocks mostly fall | biz.yahoo.com

Orbitz stock fell 7.2% on Thursday, largely attributed to the fact that 87% of its bookings are US domestic and 74% of their product sold is comprised of air tickets. Priceline also fell, but not as substantially.  Only Expedia reported a rise in value. The following facts substantiate this observation about the online industry being myopic in its approach to the travel marketplace. •  Just 15% of US overnight travel is by air •  85% is by car, motorcycle, RV or other •  Just 8% of all travel in the US is for pure vacation travel to top 100 destinations •  Just 26% is business travel • That leaves 66% that do day trips, weekend jaunts close to home, visit friends and family and "life event" travel (weddings, funerals, sports tournaments, graduations, family reunions, etc.) to the other 86,900 cities, towns and villages in the US. The online players (and their offline counterparts alike) virtually ignore all but the vacationing and business travelers.

Chicke FitzgeraldChief Executive OfficerSOLUTIONZ HOLDINGS

Until we get to "intent-based, situationally relevant" search, there is no vision

August 25, 2008

Analysis of:Is Microsoft's Vision of Search Enough to Catch Google? | www.businessweek.com

We are still in the world of Search 1.0 at best.  As long as search engines don't care what my intent is or what my current circumstances are, then I will still get 563,000 results when I enter Travel Tampa in a search bar.  Is there anyone out there that really thinks that this is effective search?

Chicke FitzgeraldChief Executive OfficerSOLUTIONZ HOLDINGS

Who will win - the device manufacturers, the carriers or the applications providers?

June 16, 2008

Analysis of:T-Mobile invests $6m in deCarta's location based platform | www.thestandard.com

Following Nokia's recent investment in Navteq and Apple's announcements last week about having full GPS on the iPhone, T-Mobile announced an investment in DeCarta, a leading provider of mapping tools and location based services. In the article, DeCarta CEO Kim Fennell states that he believes that Nokia and Apple will introduce their own set of location based services, but that they will be tied to a particular device.  Since T-Mobile is device agnostic as a carrier, it will be interesting to see what they have planned to leverage the investment in DeCarta.     

Chicke FitzgeraldChief Executive OfficerSOLUTIONZ HOLDINGS

Impact of Airline Capacity Cuts on the Hospitality Industry

June 6, 2008

Analysis of:Hotel CEOs Lament Softening Demand, Foresee Some Discounting | www.btnmag.com

All key metrics are still up (occupancy, demand, supply, average daily room rate), but what impact  will the economic downturn and reduction in airline supply have on the hospitality industry? Air travel represents less than 12% of all travel in the US today by Americans, yet all tools in the industry are air-traveler centric. Hospitality executives cite reduction in weekend demand and softening of business travel midweek.  They do not look at tools (other than online itself) at playing a role in driving traffic to their brands.

Christopher DanePresidentHRG-Executive Travel Associates

International Travel to Canada is down for the same reason International Travel to the US is up YOY.

May 27, 2008

Analysis of:Travel to Canada hits 5th straight record low | www.thestar.com

Paraphrasing President Bill Clinton's campaign strategist, James Carville... It is the Loonie stupid!  It is also the economy, price of gas. The reverse phenomenon is occurring in the US...where it is the dollar stupid!

Christopher DanePresidentHRG-Executive Travel Associates

Funding of the air traffic control system should be doen on an equitable basis

March 5, 2008

Analysis of:Senator Sees FAA Funding Blocked For Year Over User-Fee Issue | online.wsj.com

- Current Fee structure is illogical. Airlines pay 90% of the cost for two-thirds of the usage. - The Air traffic control system is going to get far worse with the continued growth of corporate aircraft and "very light jet" (VLJ's) -Airlines pay for 90% of the air traffic control system and use only two- thirds of the system. - This proposal  being considered is based on user fees which is far more logical, and equitable.

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