U.S. travelers are using their smart phones for navigation, GPS functionality and to compare or even book travel, according to a new Ypartnership/Harrison Group 2010 Portrait of American Travelers. The survey finds that nearly two in 10 travelers have downloaded a travel-related application to their smart phone. Among those travelers, nearly half (47%) have navigated [...]

A new report from Visa Inc. shows the tourism industry has begun to rebound during the first six months of 2010. From Jan. 1 to June 30 of this year, spending by international visitors to the U.S. on their Visa-branded payment cards was up 20% over the comparable period of 2009. At the same time, [...]

New motor coaches would be required to have lap-shoulder seat belts under a proposal unveiled by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. The plan affects large, tour-style buses, not city buses or school buses, which are state-regulated. The motor coach industry, which transports 750 million passengers a year, has 90 days to respond to the proposal. The [...]

The NBTA Foundation, the research arm of the National Business Travel Association, released a comprehensive report analyzing the current state of global business travel spend and growth projections over the next five years. The study, sponsored by Visa, reveals that business travel spend around the world fell by 8.8% in 2009-the largest drop the industry [...]

THE U.S. TRAVEL ASSOCIATION has launched an innovative way for the travel industry’s 10 million employees to engage in the November 2010 Congressional elections. The association has created a “Virtual Travel Town Hall” where candidates are asked to respond to the most significant travel-related questions facing the industry. It is also expected to increase industry [...]

Travelers pay up to $101 in sales, hotel, rental car and other extra taxes aimed at them on an average three-day domestic trip, according to a study out today from the National Business Travel Association. The study says travelers pay not only local sales taxes on goods and services when they go to a U.S. [...]

Ubiquitous connectivity has its downside, especially when it comes to the price of using your cellphone abroad. The proliferation of smartphones and the increased use of data have made it easier than ever to rack up huge communications bills while traveling overseas, even on a short trip. “Many leisure travelers with iPhones are going to Europe, [...]

 Nearly 75% of North American companies have revised their travel policies in the last two years to cut costs, and two-thirds of those now are discouraging-and in some cases, forbidding-employees from flying in first- or business-class seats. Those results of a new survey of corporate travel managers out today show companies increasingly are pushing workers [...]

Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco has long been one of the West Coast’s major tourist destinations. Federal officials said Tuesday it also served as a major hub for the sale of counterfeit designer goods. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Department of Justice said they charged 11 people with trafficking in counterfeit items that [...]

Posing as someone else and using fake birth certificates and driver’s licenses to get a U.S. passport can still work, says USA Today. For the second time in two years, government investigators exposed a gaping hole in the country’s security by deliberating using fraudulent material to obtain passports. The investigation by the Government Accountability Office, [...]