Evening star., 1954-01-03
The Travellers Notebook
Tourists to Shop Around
Before Buying "a Trips
Escorted Groups Expended; Howoi and South
America Stressed in Plans; Cruises in Demand
The Travellers S Notebook
By Jacques FutrelIe. Jr,
The stars Travel Editor

BY Jacques
The Stars
II the prospects for recreational
travel In the IL months ahead
were to be told in q nutshell
comment, the experts might be
able to concur on some such
statement as this: American va
cationers will buy carefully In
1854.
There are signs of it now. One
indication comes from statistics
showing that the increase in
1853 travel did not continue at
the same pace as in other sue
cessive postwar years. Another is
that motor travellers. at least.
are shopping around for the best
buy in winter vacations. whether
to Florida points or elsewhere.
So many income brackets are
involved in vacation buying that
q $4,000 trip may represent the
"best buy" to one person In in
tereSt, rest and diversion, and be
quite beyond the budget Of an
other who would try to keep the
family vacation within q 5000
automobile tour.
So. careful buying could mean
any direction or type Of trip that
offers top value for the consum-
er's dollar.
Trovel Agencies 10y Plons
Travel agency plans for 1854
thus become significant, for these
arrangers Of tours know where
interest is likely to remain con-
slant. or even increase.
ThoS. Cook & Son sees escorted
travel topping 1858 in both In
ternational and domestic fields.
So the agency has increased the
number Of its escorted tours Of
Europe in 1854 from 81 to 68.
This does not include tours that
begin in London or Paris.
Both Cooks and the American
Express Co. look to more interest
in vacations in Hawaii. Cooks
will virtually double its number
Of tours to the islands. Says
American Express:
Forty thousand tourists can't
be wrong. Flocking in record
numbers to Hawaii this year
C1953) they've proved that any
month is right for q vacation in
the islands. American Express
Travel Service believes this, too.
During 1854, three times as
many tours will be offered to
Hawaii as ever before"
Other Areas Geored Up
Cooks has more to say about
its educated guesses as to places
where vacation interest will lie.
The company adds:
I'm other popular travel fields,
such as Mexico and South Amer
lea, Alaska, the Canadian Rock
les. the Western United States,
New England and Eastern Can
ada, Cooks expects to maintain
escorted travel slightly ahead of
the figures attained in 1858.
Fifteen grand tours of Europe
are, scheduled instead Of II.
There will be Is Six Country
tours of Europe instead Of H."
Cooks has several other types
Of European tours. as well.
Cruises Go Over Big
Presuming that careful buying
already has set in. it would ap-
pear. too, that short cruises into
the Caribbean and beyond have
an extraordinary buy" appeal.
Not since 1888 has the number of
such cruises been 50 great. and
space on some Of the big name
ships was snapped up months
in advance. And here's what the
winter vacationers are paying.
roughly,
Minimum fare for q short
West Indies cruise-say. q seven
day s. S. Nassau trip from New
York-is $145. Other seven-day
cruises on the Queen of Bermuda
and the Ocean Monarch are SITS
up. For q 13-day cruise on the
Maasdam. for instance, fares be-
gin at $255. Taking the Kungs-
holm and Oslofjord cruises from
New York as typical. 18-day voy-
ages into the Caribbean region
are slightly under $500.
AAA Presidents Views
Ralph Thomas. president Of
the American Automobile Asso-
citation, sees the Nations growing
population, the expansion OF
paid vacations and the trend to-
ward two vacation trips a year
by those who. can afford it-as
tending to make travel objectives
no less popular in the year
ahead.
"The expenditure of individual
vacationers," he says. may not
rise during 1854, but collectively
all travellers will make q SUBJ
stantially greater outlay at trav-
el destinations both here and
abroad"
Among Mr.. Thomas's eight
major observations about travel
last year, he makes these two
points:
Many hotels around the
country. in a bid for the motor
travel market, expanded their
facilities to include motor lob
! TRAVEL.