Volcano Eruption Sparks Tourism

Mount Nyamuragira 

Mail and Guardian: Its status as the battleground in "Africa's world war", and possibly the worst place on Earth to be a woman, makes it arguably the world's most counterintuitive holiday destination.

Yet tourism in the Democratic Republic of Congo's ravaged east is doubling by the year as intrepid travellers set out to witness its natural wonders.

From a standing start of zero in 2008, when war was still raging, Virunga National Park's visitor numbers climbed to 550 in 2009, then 1 800 in 2010 with an expected 3 800 for 2011. As a result, this year the oldest national park in Africa expects to raise more than $1-million.

Among the attractions on offer are an overnight trek to the eruption of the Mount Nyamuragira volcano and tracking through forests to glimpse critically endangered mountain gorillas.

In a sign of growing confidence, Virunga is also due to open its first tourist lodge on January 1, with guests paying $200 a night in 12 bungalows boasting lava-rock walls and thatched roofs.

"Clearly it's not Spain we're trying to sell," said Cai Tjeenk Willink, the park's business development officer. "The good thing is we have high-quality attractions here: the mountain gorillas, the active volcanos, safaris with elephants, lions and leopards, the lake, a lowland forest and one of the highest mountain ranges in Africa. We have a lot to offer."

Willink said that most visitors were from Belgium, the former colonial power, and about one in 10 is British.

The Nyamuragira volcano began erupting on November 6 and has several lava fountains spewing up to 200m into the air, with lava flowing slowly north into an uninhabited area of the park.

The park, a Unesco world heritage site, has set up a tented camp in a safe area close to Nyamulagira, where visitors can stay overnight.

New Website Offers Deals on Last Minute Getaways

MSNBC: First came LivingSocial Escapes, which offers customers discount vacation packages.

Now comes LivingSocial Instant Escapes, launched Thursday, which offers customers last-minute travel deals up to 55 percent off.

Doug Miller, senior vice president for LivingSocial’s new business initiatives, told msnbc.com that he’s seen a lot of interest from customers in last-minute travel. While most LivingSocial Escapes packages can be booked several months out, Instant Escapes deals are aimed at travelers who don’t have plans for the upcoming weekend. “Our focus is on creating demand,” he said.

Customers can find these last-minute deals on the current LivingSocial Escapes website or mobile app or sign up to receive weekly e-mails. New deals will be posted on Wednesdays, focusing on destinations within driving distance and are good for either that Thursday, Friday or Saturday night. Most deals are one-night stays, Miller said.

The first Instant Escapes deals include:

- $139 per night at the Larkspur Hotel in San Francisco, which also includes a $15 credit to the on-site Bar 1915 and a $75 credit to rent a luxury car;

- $265 per night for a room at The Hudson Hotel in the Hell’s Kitchen area of New York City, as well as free WiFi, late check-out and continental breakfast for two; and

- $84 per night at Washington, D.C.’s Hotel Madison with a complimentary room upgrade and late check-out.

Since launching a year ago this month, LivingSocial Escapes has sold nearly 600,000 room nights at more than 800 different properties around the world. It was quickly followed by Groupon Getaways, which launched over the summer.

Carroll Rheem, director of research for PhoCusWright, said the challenge for deal sites is to drive incremental bookings, not undercut the price for a customer who was already planning a trip. She sees last-minute escapes as a niche market.

“If you’re kind of bored for the weekend, that’s a very different experience than ‘I know I was going to take a trip,’” she said.

AAA: Thanksgiving Travel Up 4% Over 2010

Click on Detroit: More Americans are hitting the road this Thanksgiving holiday, despite higher gas prices, according to the motorist group AAA.

The American Automobile Association projects 42.5 million Americans will travel at least 50 miles during the Thanksgiving weekend, an increase of 4 percent from the 40.9 million people who traveled last year.

But gas prices are also up, making the drive more expensive this year. The nationwide average price of unleaded gasoline was $3.39 per gallon on Thursday, compared with an average of $2.88 a year ago.

The high cost of gas might be why travel was flat for Memorial Day and actually decreased, compared to last year, during Independence Day and Labor Day. But the Americans who have been staying home to save money are shrugging off their financial concerns for Turkey Day, according to AAA.

"Driving AAA's projected increase in the number of Thanksgiving travelers is pent-up demand from Americans who may have foregone holiday travel the last three years," said Bill Sutherland, vice president of AAA Travel Services, in a prepared statement.

"As consumers weigh the fear of economic uncertainty and the desire to create lasting family memories this holiday, more Americans are expected to choose family and friends over frugality.

Driving will be the dominant mode of transportation during Thanksgiving, while forecasts for air travel are mixed. AAA is expecting air travel to increase by nearly 2 percent, but the Air Transport Association of America is projecting a 2 percent decrease.

AAA defines the Thanksgiving weekend as the period from Nov. 23 to Nov. 27.

New York Tops December Hotel Searches

Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

USA Today: Where are travelers most searching for hotels this December? New York tops the list, according to Kayak.com's analysis of two years of hotel-search data.

The Big Apple, after all, does a fantastic job of decking itself out for the holidays. And each year, tourists from the Tri-State area - and around the world - flock to the city to soak up the atmosphere.

Last week, workers were busy hanging gigantic snowflakes from wires high above Fifth Avenue. Visitors also love to photograph the spectacular Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, which will be lit this year on Nov. 30, and take in other festive sights - including hotels adorned with decorations.

So what about the four other cities that made Kayak.com's Top 5 list? They're all warm-weather destinations.

It makes you wonder if Northeast residents rushed to book December trips after the freak, Oct. 29 snowstorm pounded the region and left millions without power for days.

The full Top 5 from Kayak:

·         New York
·         Las Vegas
·         Orlando
·         Cancun
·         Miami

The Top 5 cities that experienced the biggest increases in hotel search volume for December travel on a year-over-year basis:

·         Miami
·         San Francisco
·         New Orleans
·         Fort Lauderdale
·         New York

On the flip side, Kayak.com also looked at cities that fell out of favor this year compared to 2010.

Deal seekers may want to scan this list of Top 8 cities where hotel search volume decreased the most on a year-over-year basis because they could have better luck in these destinations finding hotel bargains in December:

·         Barcelona
·         Los Angeles
·         San Diego
·         Boston
·         Nassau, Bahamas
·         Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
·         San Juan, Puerto Rico
·         Chicago

Innovative Travel Companies Recognized

MSNBC: Travelers face no shortage of challenges, from finding the right hotel to making the most of their vacation to knowing which restaurant recommendation to trust.

On Tuesday, 32 companies looking to make the travel experience better presented their products at the Travel Innovation Summit at this year’s PhoCusWright conference before their peers in the travel industry, a circle of critics and a panel of judges.

Among this year's winners, announced Wednesday:

GroundLink: a global, private car service that can be booked online or via mobile.

Gtrot: a website that provides travelers with targeted content such as deals or things to do in a specific city, based on their friend's social media activity through sites such as Facebook or Foursquare.

Evature: Eva, its Expert Virtual Agent, is designed to understand travel requests submitted in natural language, also known as free text.

Hipmunk: offers a flight and hotel search that now integrates with a traveler's calendar and features a heatmap for cities throughout the world based on, for example, the density of shopping or nightlife in a particular neighborhood.

ReviewPro: a customer intelligence tool that hotels can use to profit from the social web and manage their online reputation.

The judges also gave runner-up nods to two companies: Tru, a global mobile carrier, and TripLingo, a language-learning app that includes, among other things, a Slang Slider that helps travelers find the best translation.

“Travel is still very open to innovation,” Gregg Brockway, co-founder of TripIt and one of this year’s judges, told msnbc.com “I think we saw some companies that are answering really interesting problems.”

TSA Blasted for Being "Bloated, Inefficient"

CNN: Ten years after its formation, the Transportation Security Administration on Wednesday got the type of birthday card no one wants to receive -- a blistering report from Republican lawmakers who said the agency is "bloated" and "inefficient" and has done little, if anything, to improve aviation security.

Rep. John Mica, R-Florida, a longtime critic who has fought to privatize TSA screening jobs, said Congress never intended the agency it created in November 2001 to "mushroom" into a workforce of 65,000 employees, "top heavy" with bureaucrats.

"I can tell you, in our wildest dreams ... no one ever envisioned 4,000 administrative personnel in Washington, D.C., making on average ... almost $104,000, and then nearly another 10,000 out in the field," Mica said.

But the most scathing comment came from Rep. Paul Broun, R-Georgia.

"Americans have spent nearly $60 billion funding TSA and they are no safer today than they were before 9/11," Broun said.

Pressed on the accuracy of that statement, Broun and Mica said the TSA has never stopped a terrorist attack, and gave credit to private citizens or others for terrorist plots disrupted thus far.

"Unfortunately, the focus has been diverted from security ... into managing a huge bureaucracy," Mica said.

Broun concurred. "We must focus on identifying terrorists and stopping them instead of patting down grandma and children. And we must stop worrying about political correctness," he said. "TSA needs to put their resources into intelligence and technologies that can be more effective when it comes to catching highly elusive and dangerous terrorists."

The lawmakers said they are preparing legislation to reform the TSA.

A TSA spokesman called the GOP report "an unfortunate disservice to the dedicated men and women of TSA who are on the front lines every day protecting the traveling public."

The country's aviation system is "safer, stronger, and more secure than it was 10 years ago," spokesman Greg Soule said. The agency has screened more than 5 billion passengers over the past decade, he said, and has prevented more than 1,100 guns from being brought onto passenger planes this year alone.

Mica and Braun released the GOP report at a news conference held in the main concourse of Reagan-Washington National Airport. Their remarks criticizing the state of aviation security were amplified over a loudspeaker, and drew sidelong glances from passengers headed to airport checkpoints.

One day earlier, TSA Administrator John Pistole stood in the same location to discuss holiday travel preparations, touting advancements in screening technology and saying passengers are happy with changes that have reduced the number of pat downs of children.

The report released Wednesday was prepared by Republican staffers on House Transportation and Oversight committees. It is largely a compendium of earlier critical reports of the TSA, looking at its deployment of failed technology, such as puffer machines; the failure to interdict terrorists, such as 2001 "shoe bomber" Richard Reid and 2009 "underwear bomber" Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab"; and the lack of card readers for the 1.8 million ID cards issued to transportation workers.

The report says the agency has grown nearly four-fold since its inception, from 16,500 workers to more than 65,000, while commercial passenger traffic has increased less than 12 percent.

But a TSA spokesman said the agency had approximately 56,000 security officers in 2002, the year it started screening, and has approximately 52,000 today.

The report by the Republicans contains 11 recommendations, saying the TSA must act with greater independence from the Department of Homeland Security, and the administrator's stature must be elevated. The TSA has become "lost" in the Homeland Security bureaucracy, Mica said.

It also calls on the agency to contract out more screening jobs to private industry. Currently, 16 airports, including San Francisco International, have "opted out" of federal airport screening and use private screeners under what is known as the Screening Partnership Program. The screeners wear the same uniforms, use the same technology and follow the same procedures.

Mica advocates the continued privatization of airport screening jobs, but administrator Pistole has been less supportive, at one point saying he would expand the program only if there was a clear advantage to doing so.

In other TSA news, a travel industry group Wednesday said the agency's screening procedures remain "inefficient and frustrating" for travelers.

The U.S. Travel Association released the results of an online survey it conducted last month of about 600 people.

According to the survey, "four of the top five air traveler frustrations relate to the checkpoint process," including the top frustration: "People who bring too many carry-on bags through the security checkpoint." But five of the 11 options on the survey pertained directly to TSA checkpoints, and the remaining options did not include some common irritants, such as excess baggage fees.

The survey says 66.2 percent of air travelers are "somewhat or very satisfied" with the TSA's overall performance as it relates to security, 21.2 percent are neutral, and 12.5 percent are "somewhat or very dissatisfied."

But frequent air travelers are less happy, with 54.6 percent "somewhat or very satisfied."

The group said that despite the TSA's new initiatives to improve passenger screening, an "overwhelming majority" have not recognized any improvements in checkpoint efficiency when compared to the previous year. It said 81.8 percent plan to arrive at the airport the same amount of time before a flight as they did last year.

The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.

The TSA said it was pleased to see the vast majority of travelers polled believe the agency is moving in the right direction, and said checkpoint screening has gotten speedier, taking less than 20 minutes for more than 99 percent of passengers last year.

"The increased number of carry-on bags impacts our ability to further reduce wait times, but not the level of security we provide, which remains our priority," the agency said.

Ohio Launches Tourism Website

Media Post News: The Ohio Tourism Division is launching a website to showcase Ohio attractions, restaurants and destinations that have been featured in movies and on television.

The goal for the “Scene in Ohio” site is to capitalize on the “travel-motivating factors of mainstream media,” says State Tourism Director Amir Eylon. Travelers are visiting places they have learned about from their favorite television shows and movies, Eylon says. The website makes it easy to find those places along with other nearby sites to encourage a longer getaway, Eylon adds.

The interactive site is kicking off with more than 50 locations, but users are encouraged to add to the site’s content. Listings pull photos and videos from social media networks, show Yelp consumer reviews for applicable locations, and offer social media sharing capabilities.

The website’s main feature is a list of locations searchable by category (movie, television, and food), keyword and zip code; photos and videos from social media channels; Google maps; and Yelp reviews where available. The map feature also shows users the locations of other nearby “Scene in Ohio” sites as well as a brief highlight of stars born in Ohio or with strong Buckeye connections.

Each “On-Screen Ohioan” listing includes an overview of the star's career and Ohio connection, an interesting “factoid” and a link to their profile on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb).

In addition to sample itineraries for “movie buffs” or “foodies,” visitors can build and share their own Ohio itineraries. Ohioans and visitors alike can share additional movie, television and restaurant sites that may be added to the website.

Sites and experiences of all sizes located across the state range from the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield ("Shawshank Redemption") to Cincinnati's Fountain Square ("Ides of March") and from Thurman Cafe in Columbus ("Man v. Food") to Wendy Kromer Confections and City Bake Shop in Sandusky ("The Martha Stewart Show").

Research has shown that tourism often increases after places are featured on TV or in movies. The Journal of Travel Research cites two of the most notable increases: a 7% increase in tourism for Savannah, Ga., after "Forrest Gump," and a 300% increase in tourism for the Wallace monument in Scotland the year after "Braveheart" was released. Many restaurants across the U.S. report double-digit sales increases after being featured on Food Network or Travel Channel programs.

Adding to the Travel Lexicon

Cuddle Class?

Economic Times: Here are some terms that capture the changing trends and concepts, says Sushmita Choudhury Agarwal.

Austerication
This is what you get when you combine austerity with vacation. The word was coined to describe the growing trend of swapping hot travel destinations for something cheaper, closer home. Think downgrading from Maldivian shores to Goan ones, or skiing in Auli instead of the Alps. Given that the problems in Europe are far from over and inflation is still soaring at home, austerication is the word of the year.

Bleisure
It blurs the old divide between business trips and pleasure. Here's how it works: if you are being sent on a two-day business trip, you can invite your spouse to tag along. If your office has booked you in a double room, why not make the most of it and shell out extra only for the air fare? After all, the post-work hours can be put to good use. 
 

Cuddle class

You've heard of, and probably experienced, the cattle class enough number of times. Now Air New Zealand has introduced a new way of flying, and so revolutionary is the idea that it may well force other airlines to follow suit. Basically the airline has designed the economy seats in its new Boeing 777-300ER aircraft in a way that a row of three seats can be converted into a couch at the touch of a button. You get to fly flat without paying first class rates.

Extrava-gappers
A relatively new breed of high-yielding corporate slaves, who choose to take a sabbatical or an extended break when their careers hit a rough patch, like a recession, or job apathy. The agenda includes sampling never-before travel experiences while the economy recovers or as they sort out career aims and return to work life when things are clearer. What sets this group apart from the between-college-and-a-job breed is wallet size: the former have earned fat pay cheques and aren't into shoestring backpacking.

Flashpacking
This is evolved backpacking, padded up with a lot more moolah. Flashpackers retain the essence of backpacking-no fixed itinerary, travelling light, going beyond the done-to-death destinations-but in more comfort. So you trade the youth hostel for a glamping (glamorous camping) site, backpack for a strolley, throw in your iPod, iPad and DSLR camera, and look beyond the low-cost carriers. In a nutshell, flashpacking is what an extrava-gapper would do.

Greycation
Originally, a holiday exclusively for the silver-haired pack. After the recession and amid fears of another one looming large, the word has broadened its scope to mean holidays with elderly people. There is a growing trend of cheaper multi-generational vacations across the globe.

Three Thanksgiving Travel Myths Debunked

Budget Travel: Local TV news shows trot out a few staple stories every November, as reliably as families trot out Butterballs for basting.

Air travel during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend is one topic that reliably brings tall tales. Here are some popular myths, debunked.

Myth No.1
The day before Thanksgiving is the busiest day of the year for flying. Not true! Don't listen to your local TV newscaster. The Wednesday before Turkey Day won't even be in the top 25 busiest days of the year for air travel this year, according to all forecasts. That Wednesday in previous years hasn't been "the busiest day for air travel" in many years. The Saturday after Thanksgiving is usually busier. What's more, taking a flight on virtually any Thursday or Friday during the summer is usually worse than any days during this period.

This Thanksgiving is expected to pale in comparison to previous ones—at least when it comes to air travel. Fewer people will fly this year than last year and the year before, and numbers are down 12 percent from boom-boom year 2006. A forecast for this year's Thanksgiving holiday period by AAA predicts about 23 million vacationers will take to the skies between Friday, Nov. 18, and Tuesday, Nov. 29.

All that said, severe weather can, of course, wreak havoc on the aviation system at any time. So, keep an eye on the weather forecast as you travel. Also: Florida's main airport have the unique problem on the weekend before Thanksgiving, when cruise passengers mix with travelers starting their Thanksgiving holidays early.

Myth No.2
It's too late now to redeem frequent flier miles for travel on many routes. Not necessarily so! Just ask Jared Blank, the frequent flier analyst who blogs at Online Travel Review. Blank has access to the computer databases that give peeks into the availability of reward travel. He says flights from the East Coast to Florida and the Caribbean still have business-class seat upgrades available. And "flights to Europe, especially on European carriers, look quite open over the Thanksgiving break," he says.

Myth No.3
There are more flight delays at Thanksgiving than at most other times of year. Wrong again! Reporters at NPR and USA Today debunked this chestnut in recent years. They asked the Department of Transportation to crunch the numbers on this, and, historically, "on-time performance for flights since 2001 during a 12-day window with Thanksgiving in the middle" were the same as the average for the rest of the year. No blips.

For the record, LAX International in Los Angeles will be the nation’s busiest airport this Thanksgiving, followed by Chicago O’Hare, Orlando International and San Francisco International, according to the annual Orbitz Insider Index.

Pressure Increases on Tripadvisor

The Telegraph: TripAdvisor, the travel review website, may have to change the way it operates if proposed changes to defamation laws go ahead and a new complaint being considered by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) is upheld.

The website has come under increasing pressure from hoteliers and restaurateurs who claim that many of its anonymous reviews are either fake or defamatory. The issue was at the heart of Channel 4’s recent documentary Attack of the TripAdvisors.

The website is already being investigated by the ASA over the way it advertises its content. A report is likely to be published in the coming weeks. Should the complaints be upheld, many of the claims made by TripAdvisor about the reliability of its reviews may have to be scrapped.

TripAdvisor recently replaced its long-established slogan “reviews you can trust” with “reviews from our community” on all of its hotel reports. It claims this was not in response to the ASA investigation.

Several hoteliers are also taking legal action individually against the website for alleged defamation and subsequent loss of earnings. They are presenting their case through KwikChex, a “reputation- management” company.

Proposed changes to defamation laws being considered by the Justice Department could prevent sites such as TripAdvisor from publishing reports by anonymous reviewers.  The Joint Committee on the Defamation Bill, which drafted the proposals, said: “We wish to promote a cultural shift towards a general recognition that unidentified postings are not to be treated as true, reliable or trustworthy.”

It has also been revealed that a second complaint is being investigated by the ASA over the way hotels and restaurants market their businesses using positive reviews from TripAdvisor.

“The whole issue is coming to a head,” said Chris Emmins, co-founder of KwikChex. “Should these new regulations be accepted, TripAdvisor will have to alter its methods fundamentally.

“Laws and regulations are starting to catch up with the way the digital world has evolved. It’s not a witch-hunt; we just want to see the right thing happen.”

This week, TripAdvisor started a support line for disgruntled business owners – a development likely to be viewed as an attempt to appease them. The company said it wanted to send a “strong message about our commitment to delivering quality customer care for accommodation owners”.

The support line has been criticized by early users. Katie Mackay, who owns Tiroran House on the Isle of Mull, called the number to complain about a four-year-old review that relates to a section of the hotel that has since been rebuilt. She says she was told that the review could not be removed unless the entire hotel had closed.

“It was the same response I’ve always received from TripAdvisor,” she said. “They were polite, but they didn’t change anything and just read aloud the terms and conditions you can find on their website.

“The effect of negative reviews is huge. There are 68 reviews of our hotel on TripAdvisor, and 62 are positive, but if a bad review is sitting at the top, there is a massive impact on bookings.”

She said the rejection of anonymous reviews would create greater accountability.

Meanwhile, one rival website has used the criticism of TripAdvisor to promote its own product. This week Feefo – which specializes in retail reviews and requires proof of purchase before accepting reports – promised to deliver “the kind of authenticity that TripAdvisor is widely criticized for not guaranteeing”. 

Changing the Game for Hotel Rooms

Room 77 Website

Business Insider: The latest industry to see the rise of a potential game changing start-up is the Hotel Biz. A little known startup called Room 77 was profiled today by Nick Wingfield in the Bits Blog of the New York Times.

Earlier this year Room 77 launched a web site that allows its customers to select specific rooms in hotels instead of just “Types” of rooms.

With a very clean interface that enables a consumer to study the layout of rooms in the hotel and even see the view from the hotel window for that room, Room 77 allows a traveler to check out things that may be important to them, like distance from elevators or stairs. In the beginning not a lot of hotels will be able to offer the information needed for this product, so getting the exact room will be difficult for a while.

But when they do start offering this service, they will be embarking on a new world for hotel operators: transparency.
Most hotels aren’t thrilled about the idea of a consumer knowing exactly what he or she wants. The problem is obvious: Hotels haven’t been particularly good at giving people what they want, so they use their own judgement frequently to give the potential customer something close to what they really want, but not the exact room type because it may not be available. That process becomes much more complicated if the requests are for specific rooms.

The hotels worry that they will lose customers who can’t get the specific room they want. There is a legitimate question as to whether or not the hotel managers really want to see this kind of information out there in real times.

But the fact is, if you can give the consumer something he or she wants, you are doing the right thing. One way or another they will get the information they want, so if you are a hotel owner/manager, you would be better off embracing this technology and running to be up first and best with it.

On top of that, this opens the door for a new pricing model. The very “best” rooms, based on the demand from customers, could cost more. Think of the airline seats with more space that now sell that added space for more.

No matter what, this is the case of technology improving the relationship between the customer and the company.

More Travel Trends for 2012

Holiday Hypermarket: The annual TripAdvisor travel trends survey has revealed that the majority of US travelers intend to spend either same amount or more on travel in 2012.

The survey of over 2,700 US holidaymakers found that 49 per cent said they expected to spend the same amount of money on travel in 2012 as they did in 2011, and 31 per cent of respondents said they anticipated spending more in 2012. 79 per cent planned to spend at least $3,000 on holidays in 2012, with 57 per cent spending at least $5,000 and 21 per cent splashing out at least $10,000 on leisure travel in 2012.

90 per cent of those surveyed planned on taking at least two trips in 2012 and 24 per cent were intending to take five or more holidays.

The survey also looked at different types of trip and how popular they were expected to be over the coming year, and found that cultural trips, island destinations and cruise holidays were expected to prove more popular in 2012. 38 per cent of respondents took a cultural trip in 2011 but 42 per cent said they intended to take one in 2012, and while 19 per cent said they had been on a cruise in 2011, 23 per cent said they were planning a cruise for the next year.

The most popular type of trip overall was the beach holiday, with 44 per cent of people saying they would book a beach holiday for 2012.

In terms of destinations, 68 per cent of US travelers said they planned to travel outside the States in 2012, with 54 per cent opting for a holiday in Europe.

Before Traveling, Some Consult the Stars

New York Times: When Jeffrey Moran needs advice about his daily commute into Manhattan or his next business trip, he does not plug his destination into HopStop or consult a travel Web site.

Mr. Moran craves more ethereal guidance, and that is where Linda Lauren, a psychic medium, comes in.

“I have a relationship with her, just like you would a counselor or a therapist,” said Mr. Moran, 44, a public relations chief for a wine and spirits company. “You can have the best travel agent and the best assistant and the best travel planner in the world, but if something is not right, it’s not right.”

Under the category of not right is traveling during a full moon (one will rise on Thursday) or when Mercury is in retrograde. More auspicious factors include certain dates, like Nov. 11 (or 11/11/11), which falls on Friday.

“It means angelic protection,” Ms. Lauren said. “It means alignment. It’s all about embracing a new vibration. Travel will be better.”

But what happens if a full moon coincides with a good date, as it might on Friday?

That’s fine, Ms. Lauren explained. A full moon creates an abundance of energy, so people tend to rush more; a full moon on 11/11/11 just requires a traveler to manage or harness the excess energy, she said.

The topic of travel has become more prevalent among clairvoyants, according to Rosemary the Celtic Lady, the founder of the American Association of Psychics. She said she counseled clients to exhale negative energy from travel stress “out of their body.” A psychic Web site also advertises a specific $45 reading for travel, saying that whether the client is “traveling on business or vacation, this reading will help you be better prepared.”

The types of queries that Ms. Lauren receives speak to larger anxieties. Commuters who are heading to the office encounter service cuts on bus and train lines. Travelers tolerate grueling business trips that they feel they cannot turn down because they fear losing their jobs.

“People are looking for any way to get control,” said Dale Thompson, a psychologist who flies about 150 times each year. “Now it’s a grand enterprise to fly anywhere. It’s just become so much more of a hassle.”

Psychologists say more patients are talking to them about travel stress. Bonnie Jacobson, a clinical psychologist, said that, in the current economy, her patients felt pressure to pack as much into a business trip as possible and never to tell their bosses the toll that endless travel had taken on their personal lives.

Mr. Moran identifies with these issues. He first consulted with Ms. Lauren in 2007 about whether to buy a condominium and started meeting with her regularly to talk about meditation. During one meeting in 2008, Ms. Lauren said, he seemed run-down; he was fighting off a sinus infection he had developed because he had been traveling for three straight weeks. They started talking about his travel schedule and have not stopped since.

Ms. Lauren, a fourth-generation psychic medium who said she took counseling classes in college, said that a quarter of her time in sessions was now spent on travel issues.

She typically scours travel itineraries for her clients to make sure they are choosing the best numerological times to travel, and she reads through a special deck of cards when they ask her about attending conventions.

On Wednesday, Mr. Moran traveled to Ms. Lauren’s office in Mountainside, N.J., as he does once every two months. Over the faint sound of chimes and the delicate scent of candles, Mr. Moran ran through some of his concerns: should he spend more time at his company’s Westchester County office, and are Mondays good travel days to head up there?

Ms. Lauren, who charges $100 for a half-hour session, consulted a calendar on her iPad and advised him to put off that decision because of all the planetary activity ahead.

Mr. Moran asked whether it was all right to drive with his partner to Florida on Jan. 13, a Friday.

Ms. Lauren said any fears about Friday the 13th were what her mother would call “stupid-stitions.” She then consulted her calendar and cards.

“I’m feeling you can go early on the 13th,” she said, adding that he might want to give himself two days to recuperate after the trip.

Sometimes, Ms. Lauren’s clients just need help with handling their daily commutes. Craig Rogers, the fitness and sales director for Gravity Fitness and Spa at Le Parker Meridien Hotel, said he originally consulted Ms. Lauren to help him communicate with his dead sister, who was profoundly mentally retarded. But he soon found himself talking with her about his 50-minute daily commute from Plainfield, N.J., to his job in Midtown.

Mr. Rogers has followed Ms. Lauren’s advice to meditate during his commute, using downloaded images from her Web site as visual aids.

“I see people just standing on a platform, just flipping out,” Mr. Rogers said. “You think people are going to be late for something magically wild. To me, you know, it’s just a delay.”

Not every psychic has seen a sharp increase in travel-related issues, however. Stephen Robinson, the executive director and founder of the Holistic Studies Institute of New York, said travel questions made up only about 10 percent of his readings.

“What they are particularly concerned about is safety with travel,” Mr. Robinson said. “They always ask the question, ‘Is the plane going to crash?’ I’ve never seen a person’s plane crash, and I’ve been right every time. What I see are mostly inconveniences.”

Global Travel Trends for 2012

Terminal U: We’ve all heard of buzzwords like ‘staycation’ and ‘glamping’, but what are the next popular travel trends that everyone will be talking about?

An industry report has shed light on some of the key travel trends that will shape the year ahead.

Mystery holidays and camping in a stranger’s garden have been identified as some of the trends influencing the global travel industry in 2011.

The findings were published this week in the World Travel Market (WTM) Global Trends 2011 report, which is published annually in association with market analysis company, Euromonitor International.

Here’s the lowdown of what’s hot in the world of travel at the moment.

US: Top secret holidays

Playing holiday roulette by booking a trip to a mystery hotel or destination may not appeal to every traveller, but the ‘blind booking’ trend has taken off in America this year, the WTM report highlights.

US-based Nextpedition – launched by American Express this year – is said to be helping to drive the movement.

The site customises mystery package holidays for thrill-seekers willing to leave their entire itinerary and destination in the hands of a travel specialist.

The consumer takes an interactive online quiz to determine their ‘Travel Sign’ based on their hobbies and interests to help define what they might want from a travel experience.

After a consultation with a ‘Nextpedition Specialist’, a mystery itinerary is created based on their Travel Sign and budget.

The destination and itinerary are unknown until a traveller’s journey begins and is revealed day by day via a smartphone.

Online booking engines in the US such as HotWire and Priceline are also appealing to travellers’ sense of adventure with masked hotel reservations, the report adds.

Their ‘Secret Hotels’ offers don’t divulge details of a hotel’s name or exact location until a booking is made.

And US-based sites such as luxurylink.com that focus on mystery travel offers and auctions are also getting a following in the domestic travel market, according to the report.

UK: Camping in a stranger’s garden

When it comes to travelling on a shoestring, pitching a tent on a stranger’s lawn may not sound like everyone’s idea of a fun budget holiday.

But it has become something of a growing trend among holidaymakers in the UK, as cash-strapped homeowners turn to sites such as campinmygarden.com to rent out their gardens as campsites, the report says.

The campinmygarden.com website describes the experience as an “accessible, affordable and fun alternative to traditional accommodation.”

The report predicts that rent-a-garden idea will become even more popular during the London 2012 Olympic Games.

It has the most appeal to travellers in their 20s and 30s seeking modest, alternative accommodation, or who wish to experience the local community, the report highlights.

It adds that ‘uber cocooning’, where consumers look to save money by staying at home rather than going out will continue to drive the rent-a-garden trend.

Africa: Buying your plane ticket through your phone

Africa’s mobile boom is making travel accessible to those on low-incomes.

As a world leader in mobile or m-commerce, Africa’s 489 million mobile phone users are boosting demand for travel services, according to the report.

Mobile phone banking attracts low-income populations in urban and mainly rural areas of Africa, which have no access to financial services.

Kenya Airways and Uganda Airlines are tapping into Africa’s mobile boom by enabling customers without a bank account to book flights through their mobile phones, via systems such as M-PESA and Airtel.

Africa’s first mobile travel app was launched this year – wakanow.com – which includes searches for flights, hotels and car rental.

While South Africa Tourism Board has launched a mobile site – www.traveltoSA.mobi – offering travel deals to Africans in countries including Angola, Nigeria, Mozambique and Kenya.

Social media has also taken off since Facebook launched in major African languages (Swahili, Hausa and isiZulu), offering African mobile users free access to the site.

The report says that travel operators could open up more opportunities for African travel by developing mobile apps and allowing bookings via social media.

China: Hotel chains adapt for Chinese tourists

The Chinese are expected to spend US$57bn (£35bn) on accommodation domestically and abroad in 2011 – the third highest spending behind the US and Germany, according to the report.

Travellers may notice more hotels offering tailored services to entice Chinese tourists and their rising spending power, the report adds.

In 2011, Hilton announced its ‘Huanying (‘welcome’) programme’ which provides creature comforts to Chinese visitors on arrival, in-room and at breakfast.

The programme includes staff fluent in Mandarin at the front desk, two different congee at breakfast and TV programming, along with Chinese tea, tea kettles and slippers.

Also this year, Starwood Hotel Group launched the ‘Starwood Personalized Traveler Program’ offering Chinese amenities and dining.

More Travelers Going Online

MSNBC:U.S. travelers who plan and book trips online are more likely to be early adopters of new technology, more likely to own a smartphone and take about three leisure trips a year, according to new research.

“The appetite for new technology is often coupled with a strong appetite for travel,” said Carroll Rheem, director of research for PhoCusWright, which tracks travel trends.

The findings were based on the soon-to-be-released results of PhoCusWright’s Traveler Technology Survey 2011, which surveyed 1,948 online travelers -- U.S. adults who have taken one leisure trip in the past 12 months that involved at least one flight/hotel stay and who planned their trip online.

According to the survey results, 47 percent of U.S. online travelers are on the cutting edge or are early adopters of new technologies.

Of those early adopters, 71 percent own a smartphone and take an average of 3.3 leisure trips a year, spending an average of $3,712 annually.

Of the 1,125 online travelers who access the Internet via a smartphone, 79 percent view maps or get directions, 62 percent research local activities such as restaurants or shows, 43 percent research travel products such as hotel rooms or flights and 42 percent reference existing travel information, such as itineraries.

The survey was designed to help companies better understand how consumers are bringing technology into their everyday lives and how that technology impacts their travel plans, Rheem said.

While the travelers surveyed were comfortable researching information on a smartphone, however, many were more inclined to switch over to a computer to enter credit card information. “They just naturally graduate to the right tool for the job,” said Rheem, noting that it is easy to mistype characters on a smartphone.

When it comes to online social networks, 79 percent of travelers said they participated in at least one, up from 70 percent in 2010.

“A vast majority of travelers are on social networks already,” Rheem said.