The travel deals take off

With the recession cutting deeply into airline and hotel revenues, bargains abound

January 22, 2009|Nicole C. Wong, Globe Staff

Stocks aren't the only bargains in this recession: Travel companies are slashing prices on flights, cruises, and hotel rooms to get you to loosen your purse strings.

Low-fare carrier Southwest Airlines Co. is offering a 50 percent reduction in airfares to Seattle. Princess Cruises is promoting a "2-for-1 Escape the Economy" sale on nearly 200 European or Alaskan sailings. And many of the ultra-luxurious Four Seasons hotels are dangling the third, fourth, or fifth night for free.

"The deals are out there because fewer people are traveling," said Genevieve Shaw Brown, senior editor at Travelocity.com, a travel-booking website. "So for people who have the means to take a vacation, this is the best time in years to do it."

The travel industry is responding as Americans cut back on discretionary spending and travel less. The US Travel Association forecasts the country's volume of domestic trips - when one person travels at least 50 miles from home or spends at least one night away from home - will slide 1.9 percent this year from 2008. Meanwhile, the volume of overseas visits to the United States is projected to fall 3.1 percent from last year.

As a result, some carriers are deeply discounting airfares.

This week, Southwest launched its three-day "Wanna Get Away" sale, which ends today at midnight, for all round-trip flights to or from Seattle between Feb. 3 and May 31. The half-off fares - which reduce the price of a flight between Providence and Seattle to as low as $95 each way - are the deepest discounts Southwest offers during the post-holiday winter lull.

"This is traditionally one of the softer times of the year," said airline spokesman Paul Flaningan. "We're trying to stimulate some travel."

Low-cost carrier AirTran Airways also shot off a three-day systemwide sale on Tuesday. The savings on Boston flights, booked by midnight for travel through March 11 to Florida and San Juan or through May 20 for all other destinations, range from 18 percent off for folks headed to Charleston, S.C., to 55 percent off to Atlanta.

"It's really just a way of getting people thinking about traveling again," said AirTran spokeswoman Judy Graham-Weaver. "After the holidays, people don't think about it much. And with the economy the way it is, people are thinking about it less."

The travel bargains aren't bound by the nation's borders. One of the best deals is a trip to Britain, said Anne Banas, executive editor of Smarter Travel Media.

British Airways launched a sale Tuesday that offers round-trip airfare from Boston and two nights of London hotel accommodations starting at $515, or more than 10 percent cheaper than last year's similarly structured package. Trips must be booked by Jan. 29 and taken by May 24.