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CNN Live At Daybreak
America's New War: Lack of Travel Becoming Far-Reaching Economic Impact
Aired September 21, 2001 - 09:04 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Obviously, this is such a volatile market in response to those terrorist attacks.
And CNN's Brooks Jackson brings us more on the far-reaching economic impact.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROOKS JACKSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Empty hotel rooms, empty convention centers, empty taxicabs and limousines, unemployment offices overflowing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm unemployed due to the attack on America.
JACKSON: Economic aftershocks from last week's attacks are ravaging the business travel industry, hitting upscale hotels; Washington's Ritz-Carlton normally $450 a night rates to $119 for government travelers and their families and still expects to be less than half full.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's costs us in the region of $2 million.
JACKSON: To keep busy and maybe drum up business, the pastry chef is making cookies and pies for idle bellmen to carry as gifts to key clients.
The slump is also hitting budget hotels. Some Best Western hotels lost half their reservations last week. Calls to the chain's central reserve are down 20 percent.
Hitting everywhere, the big Hilton chain normally gets 2/3 of its business from convention and business travelers, and says the next few weeks may be its worst ever. It's hitting stock holder. Hilton's stock has plunged 40 percent. And it's also hitting cab drivers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been here since 9:00 and I didn't pick up nobody.
JACKSON: And that was just after noon.
At Washington's Grand Hyatt, desk clerks are out of work because so many business meetings were canceled.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody at the front desk got laid off, so everybody is laid off at the front desk, except for the managers.
JACKSON: Boston has lost three citywide conventions that would have brought in 15 thousand visitors and an estimated $15 million to the city.
LARRY MEHHAN, BOSTON TOURISM OFFICIAL: It's everything from the restaurants to the tour companies, the taxicabs. Literally, every kind of business that you find in America is in some way affected by travel.
JACKSON: Hotels had record profits last year, so they're not hurting as much as the airlines are now.
SEAN HENNESSEY, PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS: The industry will still be profitable this year, it will just be the first time in a number of years that the profit level for the industry has gone down.
JACKSON: Still, the lost travel business is costing untold millions of dollars and thousands of jobs.
(on camera): Travel industry executives say they hope for a return to normal by next year, but there are no real precedents to guide them, so forecasts are just guesswork.
Brooks Jackson, CNN, Washington.
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