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Business Traveller

Travel, Tourism Industry in Crisis

Aired May 11, 2003 - 08:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


RICHARD QUEST, HOST: War in the desert, disease in Asia, and a shattered stock market in the west, everything about the travel and tourism industry is flashing red so on this month's CNN BUSINESS TRAVELER, coming from the United Arab Emirates, we asked the question, how deep is the damage and who will recover?
Hello and welcome to CNN BUSINESS TRAVELER. I'm Richard Quest in Dubai. I've come here this month because this is a perfect example of the travel and tourism industry in crisis. Dubai is at the commercial crossroads of the Middle East. It has a thriving tourism and banking sector. Now this beach should be packed, but the visitors are staying away and the reason is obvious because Dubai's also in the middle of a region that's just been at war. Let's take hotel occupancy rates. Normally here they're over 80 percent. Now they're languishing down around 35 percent, and it's a similar story for airlines and conventions. Rarely has an industry that showed such promise now been facing calamity so quickly.

So this month, how grim can it get for the travel industry, and how are corporations learning to live without going on the road? Also, the sheikh who's showing a profit. We spend the day with the chairman of Emirates.

We start, though, with an overview of the travel and tourism industry. Not a day goes by without another announcement of layoffs, cutbacks or closures. Years of planning and investment is slowly being dismantled, and what's happening in the industry is fascinating, because events have come together to create the perfect storm.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST (voice-over): The damage from this economic hurricane isn't obvious to see. It's what's not here that's important, empty beaches, empty shopping malls. Tourists have disappeared.

GNASSAN ARIEL, ALPHA TOURS: You know the tourism word, it's always the first word to be effected by any war and it's the last to be recovered.

QUEST: Dubai is but one example. London, New York, Hong Kong, they've all been hit with airlines baring the brunt.

Since September the 11th, reacting to events has become second nature to the world's carriers requiring immediate and drastic action. For Virgin Atlantic's chief executive, the Iraq war involved shifting planes from New York to the profitable Caribbean routes and using smaller aircraft instead of jumbos. In other words, being flexible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We cancelled flights in locations where we've got multiple frequencies, just generally being very responsive to both keeping costs under control and taking every revenue opportunity that we can.

QUEST: Other airlines have laid off staff. The total number of job losses well over 100,000 and still the financial losses flow as high as $10 billion this year alone. That's because experts believe the airline industry is fundamentally flawed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The carrier that's going to survive is going to have to look at a lot of different business models in terms of operations, a lot of different markets in terms of the way it's attracting people and the services it gives and then work at what works for them.

QUEST: If planes can be multiplied or moved, hotels are far more tricky. September the 11th showed the problems in New York. Now SARS is repeating the experience in Asia.

TREVOR WARD, CONSULTANT: I don't think it's too much exaggeration to say it's actually decimated the hotel industry.

QUEST: Consultant Trevor Ward believes the problem is very simple. There's little you can do short of shutting down.

WARD: The last major shock we had was the first Gulf War in 1990, 1991 and at that time the hotels underwent quite a substantial change in terms of sitting down their management structure, reducing their cost structure. So and also there's much more to be done there.

QUEST: From planes to the hotels to the cities where tourists spend, the ripples roll on.

DES GUNAWERDENA, CEO, CONRAN GROUP: I always have a look at the VAA (ph) reports on traffic into Heathrow, particularly from North America, because that's quite a good guide for us as to what's happening to tourism.

QUEST: For the Conran Group of restaurants in London, those arrival numbers at Heathrow make depressing reading. Visitors from North America are down 7 percent since last year, and once again it's time for the restaurant to go into overdrive.

GUNAWERDENA: It's a competitive business. Last year we had so many - - so many things to deal with. So we've become quite used to what you need to do in order to deal with the down points.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take the train. You can see the attraction.

QUEST: All the tourist cities are rethinking what to do. London is starting a new campaign, Totally London, to bring in the visitors. Dubai has had its own campaign for 15 years called Destination Dubai. They did a very good job putting the city on the tourist map. Now they have to make sure it sticks.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Business travelers by and large tend to be a hardy bunch. War and recession may take their toll, but it's not long before people are traveling again. Say for instance, this investment seminar here in Dubai, where there's no shortage of people wanting to spend money. There is, though, one place where visitors are still few and far between, in Asia, where SARS continues to wreak havoc.

From Hong Kong, Lian Pek reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LIAN PEK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jam-packed at one of Hong Kong's most important trade shows of the year was some 15,000 people show up on the first day but that was last year. This year attendees said the city's biggest gift and house ware fair are down by 80 percent. Thanks to SARS the fair looks more like a medical center than a place where much of the world sources its toys, shoes and low end electronics.

HERMAN TAM, MACHERRY HONG KONG (through translator): This year is even worse than September 11. At least then we had some business. This is the worst I've seen in 10 years.

PEK: Herman Tam sells Christmas decorations to U.S. and European department stores. Day three of the fair and not a single order so far, painful when the event usually accounts for 20 percent of his yearly (UNINTELLIGIBLE). And so the story goes for many of Hong Kong's small businesses, despite a $1.5 billion package from the government to help soften the SARS blow. What they need are buyers like the Daltons. Book and card wholesalers from Melbin (ph), business goes on.

ALAN DALTON: When your number's up, your number's up. Just be careful and a bit cautious.

PEK: Back at home in the store, still no buyer in sight. Herman figures if his buys don't come to him he'll just have to go to him.

TAM (through translator): Now I have to travel more overseas, visit clients with new samples to maintain our business contacts.

PEK (on camera): Famine for some, feast for others especially if you are dealing in surgical masks, caps or gowns all flying off the shelves this year, thanks to SARS.

Mr. Yang says business is up by 10 percent but claims he's not in it for the money.

YANG YIAN, NATIONAL BRIDGE INDUSTRIES (through translator): I don't want to ruin my company's reputation by taking advantage of the current disaster. I'm from Hong Kong. I should help my people. I just donated medical suits to the hospitals, although we don't have enough to sell.

PEK: The fair's organizer, Benjamin Chau, assures me everything is in control.

(on camera): How clean is this place (UNINTELLIGIBLE), and how safe is it?

BENJAMIN CHAU, HK TRADE DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL: This is very safe. Actually everybody coming to the fair ground, they have to test their temperature. All of my staff, all the temporary workers they have to test their temperature before coming here.

PEK: Including yourself.

CHAU: Including myself. My secretary is helping me to test my temperature.

PEK (voice-over): The Daltons aren't complaining. They've come. They've bought and they're ready to go.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) hoping to go home.

DALTON: And we have (UNINTELLIGIBLE) come and pick it (ph) up. She's leaving the car at the airport so that we can drive home ourselves.

PEK: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) two hours later, a couple finally makes an inquiry but leaves without placing an order. Herman sets his sights on the last day of trades.

TAM (through translator): I think most people will come on the last day. I hope that is the case. Tomorrow will be better.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Lian Pek in Hong Kong. And back here in Dubai, conventions continue, but it's another question how much business is actually being done.

Coming up after the break, the airline that's not only making money but is also planning to expand. It's Emirates, and we meet the chairman, the sheikh, who explains how it's being done.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Of all the world's carriers, you don't need to be a Wall Street analyst to recon that the Middle Eastern airline would be most affected. After all, they're in the middle of a military storm and most have strong routes to Asia as well. So why then has Emirates Airlines just announced (UNINTELLIGIBLE) business with profits of 74 percent, and it's even giving its 18,000 worldwide staff a two month pay bonus as well. Are they fiddling the figures, or are they simply running a better airline?

We found out when we went on the road with Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the Chairman of Emirates.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHEIKH AKMED BIN SAEED AL MAKTOUM, CHAIRMAN, EMIRATES: Anything you do, you have to react very quickly in this business to the situation.

Change a plan, alter a plan, increase growth, that's what (UNINTELLIGIBLE) our businesses.

It's been another challenging year, but I'm proud to announce that the growth has had the most successful year in the history recording of profit of 1.48 million (UNINTELLIGIBLE), which is about $286 million.

I mean, we're always thinking positive. I mean for example I know that before the war in Iraq a lot of people really had to stop expansion. They tried to do their orders. We think problem can arise, but there's always can be (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and people will always continue to travel.

I think I learned a lot from the professional people. You know, you have to allow the people also (UNINTELLIGIBLE) that you are working to have the freedom to I think (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the freedom to talk to me, to discuss anything which is positive and negative, and to have that freedom and access all the time, I find that very interesting, very challenging, and then especially when you get a good result you feel really proud. I feel very proud of myself and the team I'm working with that we've been able to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to be profitable in the last 17 years of operation.

(UNINTELLIGIBLE)

I don't think that only money can bring success. I think at the end of the day, you need people. I think you need management, you know, to be able to look after the investment. I think we shouldn't really forget that we need time that to slow down, or to be lazy and doing the job. I think that's maybe when we will stop having the problem (ph); you shouldn't really rest just because you make profit (UNINTELLIGIBLE) dedicated people to do their job all the time to be able to continue and sustain growth and to be able to make this airline grow bigger and bigger.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Sheikh Ahmed of Emirates Airlines.

Now here's the problem. Your client is on the other side of the world. Your company has banned travel to that region, and anyway, these days with all the changes to airlines schedules, getting there would be a nightmare. But you still need to do business. So what do you do?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST (voice-over): If you do have to travel, now's the opportunity to find bargains galore.

Musicians from every corner of the globe brought to Britain's concert halls by the music producer (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Administration in the office involves flying in these artists from across the world. With far more seats on offer than there are people flying, it's a perfect time to find a bargain.

DIANA SPIEGEBERG, SERIOUS: In the past you could get better deals if you booked far in advance, whereas now I'm waiting around, checking out the different options. That makes a big difference, and the prices do come down.

QUEST: Of course what works for a small company doesn't necessarily do it for the multi-national so these corporate travel managers are meeting in London. They're sharing their concerns about changes to the traditional way they do business.

RAY WOOLDRIDGE, CORPORATE TRAVEL MANAGER, BSKYB: If you want to try and keep up the best (UNINTELLIGIBLE), the only way you're going to do it is to have a deal that's going to change, change and change again.

QUEST: The big companies strike the most favorable deals with the airlines and hotels. It's the obvious promise, a good rate for consistent large business. For the corporate travel manager then, now's the chance to renegotiate those deals while the market's in their favor.

Just don't push it too far.

DENIS CAMPBELL, CORPORATE TRAVEL CONSULTANT: Yes, you have to take advantage and they will take advantage of you, but you've somehow got to build that relationship where you both still get something out of it. We do not want suppliers going out of business. That will not help buyers.

QUEST: Travel and entertainment in most organizations is now the second largest controllable expense after staff. For those companies banning travel altogether, new technologies are providing a cheaper and safer alternative.

(on camera): Hello. This is CNN in London.

ROGER PAINE, VIDEO CONNECTIONS: Hello. This is Roger Paine. How do you do?

QUEST: Hello, Roger.

QUEST (voice-over): Roger Paine has seen demand for his video conferencing software grow by about 200 percent each month since the Iraq war broke out. Now it's SARS that's boosting business. Installation across a company will cost the same as two business travelers might spend in a year.

PAINE: Video conferencing doesn't replace every meeting, and nor is it sold to replace every meeting. What it is an alternative to the every second or fourth meeting or every alternate meeting.

QUEST: In a marketplace where your competitors are scared, this could be the good time to rethink your travel plans and get on the road. Heed the warnings. Look for the opportunities. The market's in your favor. Make the most of it. It won't last.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Coming up after the break, you've braved the trip, done the deal and avoided catching anything nasty. Now it's time to relax in the middle of the desert, "Getting Away."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Welcome back to CNN BUSINESS TRAVELER from Dubai. This is the Shesha (ph), better known to me as the Hobbly Bobbly (ph), and they've been using this to help them relax for centuries in this part of the world. Even non-smokers can join in, because this one's got the perfect mixture of dried fruits and molasses sugar. What better way to get rid of the problems and trials and tribulations of the day as indeed is a day in the desert?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MEARA ERDOZAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): While you can't escape the heat in Dubai, you can escape from the people. This city, which just 30 years ago was mainly desert, is now rediscovering its roots. The middle of nowhere in the middle of the desert, this is where people are learning to relax.

MITCH PARERA, ARABIAN ADVENTURES: Well, we've got the run of the mill tourists, and we have business travelers, business travelers mostly because Dubai's one of the business hubs, or rather the key place in the Middle East, and yes, when they're here they're busy bodies in the morning and in the afternoons they have their leisure.

ERDOZAN: The desert safari starts off with dune driving. The dunes are up to 50 meters high, and as the sand shifts constantly the vehicles get stuck or even topple over. This is not for the faint hearted, nor for those with a weak stomach. And then there's sand boarding. While it may lack the refreshing temperatures of the Alps, it's first and it's certainly not easy, for those who prefer something only slightly less bumpy than dune driving or sand boarding, a different mode of transport and once you put the desert action behind you, it's dinner, and not just for the camels.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've just come back from Kuwait this morning and it's nice just to come out of the desert. The temperature's leveling. The ambiance is nice. It's nice just to get out into the real world out here and get away from the stress of the city.

ERDOZAN: Desert safaris like this cost around $60, and if you're fed up with watching the sun going down from the beach or your hotel room, this is certainly one way to get a different perspective on Dubai.

For CNN BUSINESS TRAVELER, I'm Meara Erdozan in the United Arab Emirates.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Of course, you can find many other destinations where the business traveler can relax on our Web site. It's at cnn.com/businesstraveler, and as always, you can write to me with your troubles and problems of life on the road at the usual e-mail address, quest@cnn.com.

And that's CNN BUSINESS TRAVELER. I'm Richard Quest reporting from Dubai. Perhaps more so than any other month, wherever your travels may take you, I hope it's safe, and of course profitable. I'll see you next month.

END

TO ORDER VIDEOTAPES AND TRANSCRIPTS OF CNN INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMMING, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE THE SECURE ONLINE ORDER FROM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com



Aired May 11, 2003 - 08:30:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICHARD QUEST, HOST: War in the desert, disease in Asia, and a shattered stock market in the west, everything about the travel and tourism industry is flashing red so on this month's CNN BUSINESS TRAVELER, coming from the United Arab Emirates, we asked the question, how deep is the damage and who will recover?
Hello and welcome to CNN BUSINESS TRAVELER. I'm Richard Quest in Dubai. I've come here this month because this is a perfect example of the travel and tourism industry in crisis. Dubai is at the commercial crossroads of the Middle East. It has a thriving tourism and banking sector. Now this beach should be packed, but the visitors are staying away and the reason is obvious because Dubai's also in the middle of a region that's just been at war. Let's take hotel occupancy rates. Normally here they're over 80 percent. Now they're languishing down around 35 percent, and it's a similar story for airlines and conventions. Rarely has an industry that showed such promise now been facing calamity so quickly.

So this month, how grim can it get for the travel industry, and how are corporations learning to live without going on the road? Also, the sheikh who's showing a profit. We spend the day with the chairman of Emirates.

We start, though, with an overview of the travel and tourism industry. Not a day goes by without another announcement of layoffs, cutbacks or closures. Years of planning and investment is slowly being dismantled, and what's happening in the industry is fascinating, because events have come together to create the perfect storm.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST (voice-over): The damage from this economic hurricane isn't obvious to see. It's what's not here that's important, empty beaches, empty shopping malls. Tourists have disappeared.

GNASSAN ARIEL, ALPHA TOURS: You know the tourism word, it's always the first word to be effected by any war and it's the last to be recovered.

QUEST: Dubai is but one example. London, New York, Hong Kong, they've all been hit with airlines baring the brunt.

Since September the 11th, reacting to events has become second nature to the world's carriers requiring immediate and drastic action. For Virgin Atlantic's chief executive, the Iraq war involved shifting planes from New York to the profitable Caribbean routes and using smaller aircraft instead of jumbos. In other words, being flexible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We cancelled flights in locations where we've got multiple frequencies, just generally being very responsive to both keeping costs under control and taking every revenue opportunity that we can.

QUEST: Other airlines have laid off staff. The total number of job losses well over 100,000 and still the financial losses flow as high as $10 billion this year alone. That's because experts believe the airline industry is fundamentally flawed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The carrier that's going to survive is going to have to look at a lot of different business models in terms of operations, a lot of different markets in terms of the way it's attracting people and the services it gives and then work at what works for them.

QUEST: If planes can be multiplied or moved, hotels are far more tricky. September the 11th showed the problems in New York. Now SARS is repeating the experience in Asia.

TREVOR WARD, CONSULTANT: I don't think it's too much exaggeration to say it's actually decimated the hotel industry.

QUEST: Consultant Trevor Ward believes the problem is very simple. There's little you can do short of shutting down.

WARD: The last major shock we had was the first Gulf War in 1990, 1991 and at that time the hotels underwent quite a substantial change in terms of sitting down their management structure, reducing their cost structure. So and also there's much more to be done there.

QUEST: From planes to the hotels to the cities where tourists spend, the ripples roll on.

DES GUNAWERDENA, CEO, CONRAN GROUP: I always have a look at the VAA (ph) reports on traffic into Heathrow, particularly from North America, because that's quite a good guide for us as to what's happening to tourism.

QUEST: For the Conran Group of restaurants in London, those arrival numbers at Heathrow make depressing reading. Visitors from North America are down 7 percent since last year, and once again it's time for the restaurant to go into overdrive.

GUNAWERDENA: It's a competitive business. Last year we had so many - - so many things to deal with. So we've become quite used to what you need to do in order to deal with the down points.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take the train. You can see the attraction.

QUEST: All the tourist cities are rethinking what to do. London is starting a new campaign, Totally London, to bring in the visitors. Dubai has had its own campaign for 15 years called Destination Dubai. They did a very good job putting the city on the tourist map. Now they have to make sure it sticks.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Business travelers by and large tend to be a hardy bunch. War and recession may take their toll, but it's not long before people are traveling again. Say for instance, this investment seminar here in Dubai, where there's no shortage of people wanting to spend money. There is, though, one place where visitors are still few and far between, in Asia, where SARS continues to wreak havoc.

From Hong Kong, Lian Pek reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LIAN PEK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jam-packed at one of Hong Kong's most important trade shows of the year was some 15,000 people show up on the first day but that was last year. This year attendees said the city's biggest gift and house ware fair are down by 80 percent. Thanks to SARS the fair looks more like a medical center than a place where much of the world sources its toys, shoes and low end electronics.

HERMAN TAM, MACHERRY HONG KONG (through translator): This year is even worse than September 11. At least then we had some business. This is the worst I've seen in 10 years.

PEK: Herman Tam sells Christmas decorations to U.S. and European department stores. Day three of the fair and not a single order so far, painful when the event usually accounts for 20 percent of his yearly (UNINTELLIGIBLE). And so the story goes for many of Hong Kong's small businesses, despite a $1.5 billion package from the government to help soften the SARS blow. What they need are buyers like the Daltons. Book and card wholesalers from Melbin (ph), business goes on.

ALAN DALTON: When your number's up, your number's up. Just be careful and a bit cautious.

PEK: Back at home in the store, still no buyer in sight. Herman figures if his buys don't come to him he'll just have to go to him.

TAM (through translator): Now I have to travel more overseas, visit clients with new samples to maintain our business contacts.

PEK (on camera): Famine for some, feast for others especially if you are dealing in surgical masks, caps or gowns all flying off the shelves this year, thanks to SARS.

Mr. Yang says business is up by 10 percent but claims he's not in it for the money.

YANG YIAN, NATIONAL BRIDGE INDUSTRIES (through translator): I don't want to ruin my company's reputation by taking advantage of the current disaster. I'm from Hong Kong. I should help my people. I just donated medical suits to the hospitals, although we don't have enough to sell.

PEK: The fair's organizer, Benjamin Chau, assures me everything is in control.

(on camera): How clean is this place (UNINTELLIGIBLE), and how safe is it?

BENJAMIN CHAU, HK TRADE DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL: This is very safe. Actually everybody coming to the fair ground, they have to test their temperature. All of my staff, all the temporary workers they have to test their temperature before coming here.

PEK: Including yourself.

CHAU: Including myself. My secretary is helping me to test my temperature.

PEK (voice-over): The Daltons aren't complaining. They've come. They've bought and they're ready to go.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) hoping to go home.

DALTON: And we have (UNINTELLIGIBLE) come and pick it (ph) up. She's leaving the car at the airport so that we can drive home ourselves.

PEK: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) two hours later, a couple finally makes an inquiry but leaves without placing an order. Herman sets his sights on the last day of trades.

TAM (through translator): I think most people will come on the last day. I hope that is the case. Tomorrow will be better.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Lian Pek in Hong Kong. And back here in Dubai, conventions continue, but it's another question how much business is actually being done.

Coming up after the break, the airline that's not only making money but is also planning to expand. It's Emirates, and we meet the chairman, the sheikh, who explains how it's being done.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Of all the world's carriers, you don't need to be a Wall Street analyst to recon that the Middle Eastern airline would be most affected. After all, they're in the middle of a military storm and most have strong routes to Asia as well. So why then has Emirates Airlines just announced (UNINTELLIGIBLE) business with profits of 74 percent, and it's even giving its 18,000 worldwide staff a two month pay bonus as well. Are they fiddling the figures, or are they simply running a better airline?

We found out when we went on the road with Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the Chairman of Emirates.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHEIKH AKMED BIN SAEED AL MAKTOUM, CHAIRMAN, EMIRATES: Anything you do, you have to react very quickly in this business to the situation.

Change a plan, alter a plan, increase growth, that's what (UNINTELLIGIBLE) our businesses.

It's been another challenging year, but I'm proud to announce that the growth has had the most successful year in the history recording of profit of 1.48 million (UNINTELLIGIBLE), which is about $286 million.

I mean, we're always thinking positive. I mean for example I know that before the war in Iraq a lot of people really had to stop expansion. They tried to do their orders. We think problem can arise, but there's always can be (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and people will always continue to travel.

I think I learned a lot from the professional people. You know, you have to allow the people also (UNINTELLIGIBLE) that you are working to have the freedom to I think (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the freedom to talk to me, to discuss anything which is positive and negative, and to have that freedom and access all the time, I find that very interesting, very challenging, and then especially when you get a good result you feel really proud. I feel very proud of myself and the team I'm working with that we've been able to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to be profitable in the last 17 years of operation.

(UNINTELLIGIBLE)

I don't think that only money can bring success. I think at the end of the day, you need people. I think you need management, you know, to be able to look after the investment. I think we shouldn't really forget that we need time that to slow down, or to be lazy and doing the job. I think that's maybe when we will stop having the problem (ph); you shouldn't really rest just because you make profit (UNINTELLIGIBLE) dedicated people to do their job all the time to be able to continue and sustain growth and to be able to make this airline grow bigger and bigger.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Sheikh Ahmed of Emirates Airlines.

Now here's the problem. Your client is on the other side of the world. Your company has banned travel to that region, and anyway, these days with all the changes to airlines schedules, getting there would be a nightmare. But you still need to do business. So what do you do?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST (voice-over): If you do have to travel, now's the opportunity to find bargains galore.

Musicians from every corner of the globe brought to Britain's concert halls by the music producer (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Administration in the office involves flying in these artists from across the world. With far more seats on offer than there are people flying, it's a perfect time to find a bargain.

DIANA SPIEGEBERG, SERIOUS: In the past you could get better deals if you booked far in advance, whereas now I'm waiting around, checking out the different options. That makes a big difference, and the prices do come down.

QUEST: Of course what works for a small company doesn't necessarily do it for the multi-national so these corporate travel managers are meeting in London. They're sharing their concerns about changes to the traditional way they do business.

RAY WOOLDRIDGE, CORPORATE TRAVEL MANAGER, BSKYB: If you want to try and keep up the best (UNINTELLIGIBLE), the only way you're going to do it is to have a deal that's going to change, change and change again.

QUEST: The big companies strike the most favorable deals with the airlines and hotels. It's the obvious promise, a good rate for consistent large business. For the corporate travel manager then, now's the chance to renegotiate those deals while the market's in their favor.

Just don't push it too far.

DENIS CAMPBELL, CORPORATE TRAVEL CONSULTANT: Yes, you have to take advantage and they will take advantage of you, but you've somehow got to build that relationship where you both still get something out of it. We do not want suppliers going out of business. That will not help buyers.

QUEST: Travel and entertainment in most organizations is now the second largest controllable expense after staff. For those companies banning travel altogether, new technologies are providing a cheaper and safer alternative.

(on camera): Hello. This is CNN in London.

ROGER PAINE, VIDEO CONNECTIONS: Hello. This is Roger Paine. How do you do?

QUEST: Hello, Roger.

QUEST (voice-over): Roger Paine has seen demand for his video conferencing software grow by about 200 percent each month since the Iraq war broke out. Now it's SARS that's boosting business. Installation across a company will cost the same as two business travelers might spend in a year.

PAINE: Video conferencing doesn't replace every meeting, and nor is it sold to replace every meeting. What it is an alternative to the every second or fourth meeting or every alternate meeting.

QUEST: In a marketplace where your competitors are scared, this could be the good time to rethink your travel plans and get on the road. Heed the warnings. Look for the opportunities. The market's in your favor. Make the most of it. It won't last.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Coming up after the break, you've braved the trip, done the deal and avoided catching anything nasty. Now it's time to relax in the middle of the desert, "Getting Away."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Welcome back to CNN BUSINESS TRAVELER from Dubai. This is the Shesha (ph), better known to me as the Hobbly Bobbly (ph), and they've been using this to help them relax for centuries in this part of the world. Even non-smokers can join in, because this one's got the perfect mixture of dried fruits and molasses sugar. What better way to get rid of the problems and trials and tribulations of the day as indeed is a day in the desert?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MEARA ERDOZAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): While you can't escape the heat in Dubai, you can escape from the people. This city, which just 30 years ago was mainly desert, is now rediscovering its roots. The middle of nowhere in the middle of the desert, this is where people are learning to relax.

MITCH PARERA, ARABIAN ADVENTURES: Well, we've got the run of the mill tourists, and we have business travelers, business travelers mostly because Dubai's one of the business hubs, or rather the key place in the Middle East, and yes, when they're here they're busy bodies in the morning and in the afternoons they have their leisure.

ERDOZAN: The desert safari starts off with dune driving. The dunes are up to 50 meters high, and as the sand shifts constantly the vehicles get stuck or even topple over. This is not for the faint hearted, nor for those with a weak stomach. And then there's sand boarding. While it may lack the refreshing temperatures of the Alps, it's first and it's certainly not easy, for those who prefer something only slightly less bumpy than dune driving or sand boarding, a different mode of transport and once you put the desert action behind you, it's dinner, and not just for the camels.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've just come back from Kuwait this morning and it's nice just to come out of the desert. The temperature's leveling. The ambiance is nice. It's nice just to get out into the real world out here and get away from the stress of the city.

ERDOZAN: Desert safaris like this cost around $60, and if you're fed up with watching the sun going down from the beach or your hotel room, this is certainly one way to get a different perspective on Dubai.

For CNN BUSINESS TRAVELER, I'm Meara Erdozan in the United Arab Emirates.

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QUEST: Of course, you can find many other destinations where the business traveler can relax on our Web site. It's at cnn.com/businesstraveler, and as always, you can write to me with your troubles and problems of life on the road at the usual e-mail address, quest@cnn.com.

And that's CNN BUSINESS TRAVELER. I'm Richard Quest reporting from Dubai. Perhaps more so than any other month, wherever your travels may take you, I hope it's safe, and of course profitable. I'll see you next month.

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