PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release
Contact: Debra Kelman 212-794-DKPR (3577)
dkelman@dkpr.com

The Travel Business Roundtable-World Travel and Tourism Council (TBR-WTTC) Index Of Leading Economic Indicators Advances Robustly in June 2001

WASHINGTON, D.C. - August 9, 2001 -- The Travel Business Roundtable/World Travel and Tourism Council (TBR-WTTC) Index of Leading Economic Indicators advanced a robust 0.7 percent in June - the fourth monthly increase since January.

Despite these gains, the overall TBR-WTTC Index - at a seasonally adjusted rate of 138.6-still remains below the peak levels reached last summer and early fall.

Comparatively, the U.S. Index of Leading Economic Indicators advanced 0.3 percent in June.

"Recent consecutive monthly increases in both the TBR and U.S Indexes seem to suggest that the worst is over for the 2000-01 cyclical pause, and a national recession has been avoided," comments Dr. James Howell, economist and president of the Boston-based Howell Group. "At the same time, while we believe that there will be a modest acceleration in economic growth this fall, the consensus forecast now calls for 1.5 percent growth rate in this second half of the year, followed by a growth rate in the 2.0-2.5 percent range in 2002."

Dr. Howell adds that the most serious caveat concerning the recovery relates to business investment rates, which increased at annual rates in the 10-20 percent rage during the 1990s, but declined at an annual rate of 13.6 percent in the second quarter of 2001.

The June TBR-WTTC Index included increases in five of the nine sectors: Hotel/Motel Revenue, Hotel/Motel Occupancy Rate, Consumer Confidence, Personal Consumption Expenditures for Travel and Related Items, and Retail Sales at Eating and Drinking Establishments. No changes occurred in Air Revenue Passenger Miles or Travel and Tourism Employment, and ARC (Travel agent) Sales and Rental Car Price Per Day had only fractional declines.

The TBR Index is a composite of nine key travel, tourism, entertainment, and restaurant data measures representing all the major economic sectors of this industry. The composite TBR Index represents a weighted computation of the month-to-month changes in each of the individual time series. Seasonal fluctuations are removed from these data before they are aggregated into the final TBR Index.

The Travel Business Roundtable is a CEO-based organization representing all sectors of the travel and tourism industry. In addition to the major airlines, car rental companies, travel management agencies, hotel chains, TBR’s membership roster also includes companies such as The Coca-Cola Company, USA Today, the Taubman Company, and the International Council of Shopping Centers, demonstrating the broad scope and diversity the industry represents. Projected to be the world’s largest industry within the decade, travel and tourism is the nation’s third largest retail industry and second largest employer with more than 17million Americans employed directly or indirectly in travel and tourism.

Projected to be the world’s largest industry within the decade, travel and tourism is also America’s leading services export, travel and tourism created a trade surplus of nearly $17 billion in 2000, generating $99.5 billion of tax revenue and more than $582.5 billion in total expenditures.

Reflecting of the important global aspects of the travel industry TBR has formed a strategic affiliation with The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) -- the global business leaders' forum for Travel & Tourism. Its members are chief executives from all sectors of industry, including accommodation, catering, entertainment, recreation, transportation and other travel-related services.

Founded in April 1990, WTTC policies are set and implemented by a Member Executive Committee, a President and a small staff in London, with representative offices in North & South America, Asia/Pacific and Europe.

WTTC's Strategic Priorities are the organisation's guiding policy platform. They identify the potential for Travel & Tourism to generate almost 60 million new jobs or 252 million jobs by 2010 across the world economy, with new public/private sector cooperation.

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