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Travel business
down in wake of Sept. 11
By Alisha Gomez
On-line Forty-Niner
Two months have
past since the Sept. 11 attacks and travel businesses are
trying to get back on their feet.
The biggest change has been the flight schedule with the airlines,
cancellations and refunds, said Jerry Spaulding, a travel
consultant for the Travel Agency at Cal State Long State Beach,
a division of Funfest Travel.
"The last couple of weeks have been pretty steady,"
Spaulding said. "There were a lot of refunds, and if
flyers were stuck between that time or [were going to fly]
after that time, the airlines had no problem refunding their
tickets."
Spaulding said that he still has had some business for Thanksgiving
in spite of the downturn in traveling since rates are pretty
low right now.
Not many people have come in saying they want to travel but
are too afraid to fly.
"We've had some staff people that have conferences in
San Jose come to us and want to rent a car instead of fly,"
Spaulding said. "[But] with LAX opening their ramp, it
has definitely helped."
Kathrina Sioson, a senior in geology, said she is not afraid
to fly at all and that airfare is pretty good. Sam Meyabadi,
a senior in religious studies is not afraid either. The two
students recently made plans to travel to Los Vegas.
"We like to travel," Meyabadi said. "We like
to fly to places. We figure it is actually much safer now."
The College Center Travel in Long Beach has not had great
business since the Sept. 11 attacks. Owner Sandi VanHorn said
that everything to do with travel, including hotels and car
rentals, has been affected.
VanHorn said she thinks the media has played up the public's
fears.
"Unfortunately, everyone is paying the price," VanHorn
said.
Though she is hopeful that things will get better, she realizes
that the whole economy has been affected.
"Things are good for the consumer right now," VanHorn
remarked about traveling. "I was surprised at some airfare
prices," she said, referring to a fare she found from
Los Angeles to Seattle for $50.
"Nobody knows what's really going to happen," she
said. "We like to be cheerful and positive, but how do
you calm people's fears?"
VanHorn said that even though college students are still interested
in traveling, some of their parents will not let them go.
Even the Study Abroad program has noticed differences in the
number of students interested in the program for next semester.
Cecilia Fidora, Study Abroad Coordinator in the Center for
Education said it is hard to tell if students are as upset
as parents.
Fidora said that the London semester abroad tends to have
about 10 to 15 applicants. Right now only four to five have
applied. Although students have until late next week to apply,
less than half of the applicants is not the norm.
"People tend to come at the last minute," Fidora
said. "But the study abroad program is closely related
to the economy."
She has found that if the economy is bad and parents are losing
their jobs, they cannot afford to send their children abroad.
There have been changes in international students studying
here, too.
"Right after the attacks, many of our Muslim students
were very nervous of stereotyping," Fidora said. "Especially
the girls because they wear the cloths over their faces. They
were afraid to go to school."
Fidora said that a number of them went home after the Sept.
11 attacks, mainly because their parents wanted them back.
She said that as far as she knew only two out of 100 students
studying abroad through CSULB returned home because their
parents wanted them here.
"I've had a few students ask me 'what do you think about
security?'" Fidora said. A difficult question to answer,
Fidora said she still believes that we cannot live our lives
in fear.
She is still snot sure how many international students will
come to study here in January.
"Students submit their applications way in advance to
study abroad, so the question is how many will show up for
orientation on Jan. 15," Fidora said. "We've been
told that getting a visa is tougher, but we won't know the
fallout for next semester until the students show up."
Fidora said that she has had the same number of students come
in and ask about studying abroad, but turning in an application
costs nothing and nothing is certain until it is actually
time to go.
Still, one thing VanHorn is glad to see is that airport security
has tightened.
"The economy was southbound before the terrorist attacks,"
VanHorn said. "We can't blame everything on this."
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