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While reverberations from 9/11 touched nearly everyone and everything across the U.S. and beyond, perhaps no industry has been more profoundly affected than travel.

Images of commercial airplanes piercing Manhattan's skyline, horror stories of woeful airport security, and accounts of nervous airline passengers subjected to a gauntlet of invasive check-in procedures rattled the traveling public. The fallout has brought the airline industry to its knees.

Even if would-be travelers were able to muster the courage to take a flight, it just wouldn't have felt right to have grabbed a pair of mouse ears and hopped aboard It's a Small World in those anxious days and weeks following 9/11. In mid-September, eerie images of a near-deserted Magic Kingdom confirmed that. But what about now? On the anniversary of last September's cataclysmic events, is it OK to return to Disney's Main Street U.S.A.? According to a panel of travel experts that gathered a few weeks back in the theme park capital of Orlando, vacationers are returning to the destination parks--but it's a changed world

It's the economy, stupid
Convened to share info and discuss the state of the industry with a roomful of media writers, the panel included representatives from theme parks, hotels, travel organizations, and tourism bureaus. Their general conclusion: While 9/11 continues to take its toll, at this point it is the soft economy that is really putting a crimp on vacationers' plans.

An American Automotive Association (AAA)/Travel Industry Association of America (TIA) report discussed at the forum forecasts a 2% increase in the number of U.S. travelers this summer. "But it is an upturn at the cost of deep, deep discounting," said Fred Lounsberry, TIA national chair and senior vice president of sales for Universal Studios Recreation Group. People are willing to travel, but the tentative state of the economy has given them the jitters. This is great news for vacationers seeking deals. Major parks like Disney and Universal are offering unprecedented savings on packages to keep their turnstiles clicking. It's not great news for the parks or their shareholders as profit margins get squeezed.

While park turnstiles are clicking, they are not at last year's levels. And, it is a different mix of visitors queuing at the gates. Post-9/11 anxiety virtually wiped out the international market. The international gates at the Orlando airport might as well have tumbleweeds blowing through them. And domestic air travel is down significantly as well. "People are on the move," said Mark Brown, AAA executive vice president. "But they are turning to cars and trains as the preferred mode of transportation." The AAA/TIA forecast predicts 25% more auto trips this summer. As a result, parks are marketing more to "short-haul" travelers, those who live within a reasonable driving distance.

Can theme parks help heal the world?
In a candid admission, Michael Sansbury, regional vice president for Loews Hotels, said that the company's two on-property Universal Orlando resorts lost $4 million in cancellations within 48 hours after 9/11. The hotels hit their nadir when the Portofino Bay limped in with a 13% occupancy rate on a September weekday. They've since rebounded and the new Royal Pacific Resort at Universal Orlando is posting impressive occupancy rates. But, again, the Loews Hotels have attracted guests through steep discounts and other incentives.

No amount of incentives can coax some people back to theme parks. Vague terrorism warnings and lingering apprehension make crowded theme parks the last place nervous fun-seekers would want to visit. That, along with the tough economy, is why Six Flags, the king of "short-haul" amusement park visits, reported an 11% drop in total attendance in its most recent quarterly report.

Still, there is some truth mixed in with self-serving cheerleading when Universal's Lounsberry said that theme parks are "the perfect antidote to what ails the world today. They bring people of all backgrounds and religions together."

Perhaps the anniversary of 9/11 will help bring some closure to a horrific episode and people, at least those with a few bucks to spare, will begin to consider a theme park vacation. "I believe there is a pent-up demand," said Bill Peeper, president of the Orlando/Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau. "People want to put September 11 behind them and get on with their lives."

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