Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.travel From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: travel Tue, Feb 18 1992 Date: Tue, 18 Feb 92 06:36:31 EST Message-ID: DECISIONLINE: Travel USA TODAY Update Feb. 18, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network COMPANY, NOT COST, MAKES TRIP: Having a good vacation doesn't necessarily mean blowing the budget for a trip to some high-cost vacation spot. Instead, a happy vacation depends more on who travelers go with than where they go. That's what travel research firm D.K. Shifflet & Associates discovered when they asked 500 people whether they enjoyed their vacations last year more or less than before the recession. (For more, see special Vacation package below.) L'EXPRESS CANCELS FLIGHTS: L'Express commuter airline has canceled all flights since Sunday to Louisiana, Alabama and Texas. This followed the seizure by Beech Aircraft Corp. of all planes it had been leasing to the financially strapped airline which had fallen behind in payments, WDSU-TV in New Orleans reported Monday. L'Express filed for bankruptcy in 1991. TOURISTS CAN'T GET OFF: Tour bus operators Monday agreed to a plan that will allow them to take their busloads of tourists through the National Cemetery of the Pacific in Punch Bowl, Hawaii, but won't allow passengers to get off the bus. Memorial officials are trying to reduce the impact of 6 million visitors per year on the cemetery. CHALETS ARE POPULAR: Both of Glacier, Mont., National Park's back-country chalets are already booked through the summer. And twice as many confirmed reservations have been made at the park compared to the same time as last year, officials say. LODGING TAX FOR BEACHES PONDERED: New Jersey Gov. Jim Florio will meet Tuesday with officials and environmentalists to discuss beach replenishment funding at shore communities, which generate $8 billion per year in tourism. The proposal is to keep a 7% tax on lodging if the sales tax reverts to 6%. The extra 1% will help fund shore rebuilding. Opponents argue for changing the pattern of development instead. CONFERENCE CENTER PROPOSED: The Weber County (Utah) Commission will hear a proposal next week for a $204,000 feasability study of a conference center and performing-arts complex proposed for downtown Ogden. The study would be funded by a restaurant tax. BEACH FEE PROPOSAL DRAWS IRE: A campaign to ban fees on California beaches is making allies of pro-logging advocates and anti-logging activists in Fort Bragg, who cite the people's right to a free beach. Both support the Free Our Beaches Initiative, which need 460,000 signatures to make a November ballot. The fee is $5 per car or $2 per walk-on. MAN CHOKES FLIGHT ATTENDANT: Anthony Misiak, 60, Tuesday will be charged in a Minneapolis federal court with interfering with a flight crew after yelling and choking a Northwest Airlines flight attendant who spilled a beverage on him, FBI officials say. Misiak was arrested Sunday at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport after arriving on a flight from Cleveland. BRIDGE CLOSED, TO BE REPLACED: Police on Monday closed the Central Bridge between Cincinnati and Newport, Ky. The deteriorating, hundred-year-old bridge is scheduled to be demolished and replaced with a four-lane, $26 million bridge. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON VACATION: FEW HAD WORSE VACATION: When travel research firm D.K. Shifflet & Associates asked 500 people whether vacations were more fun last year or before the recession, they found that 35% enjoyed their 1991 trips more than those they took two or three years ago. Only 19% had a worse trip. The remaining 46% said their vacations were not any worse or better. FAMILY EMPHASIS A PLUS: Fifty-three percent of those who traveled with kids enjoyed their 1991 vacations more than pre-recession. So did 43% who stayed with family or friends. "The '90s emphasis on personal ties seems to be generating a `happiness dividend' for travelers," Shifflet says. "When times are good, people are more adventurous, they go farther. In difficult times, they need a more relaxing vacation." VACATIONS ARE FOR R&R: The findings from Shifflet match the annual lifestyles survey by Yankelovich Clancy Shulman, which concluded that vacations in the '90s are more for rest and relaxation than for bragging rights. In 1988, 60% described traveling for pleasure as a sign of success. In '91 the number had dropped to 52%. What topped it: Being satisfied with life rose to 63%. (End of package.) 24-HOUR TELEPHONE INFORMATION: USA TODAY Weather Hot Line. 95 cents a minute. 1-900-555-5555. Travel Editor: Beth Mann. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. 08:0002180000D0218 WEAT-R C Much-of-USA-to-be-mild................ A D0218 This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM