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Travel Industry Offering Discounts To Lure Leisure Travelers

Travel companies are slashing prices on flights, cruises, and hotel rooms, Nicole C. Wong reports, as leisure travelers opt to stay home and conserve their financial resources. Southwest Airlines is offering 50% savings on fares to Seattle, for example, and Princess Cruises is promoting a "2-for-1 Escape the Economy" sale on nearly 200 European or Alaskan sailings.

Low-cost carrier AirTran Airways shot off a three-day sale on Tuesday as "a way of getting people thinking about traveling again," according to spokeswoman Judy Graham-Weaver. British Airways launched a sale the same day. Hotels also are discounting heavily, and "the cruise industry is under severe strain," says Stuart MacDonald, CEO of tripharbor.com, a cruise site.

The U.S. Travel Association forecasts the country's volume of domestic trips -- when one person travels at least 50 miles from home or spends at least one night away from home -- will drop 1.9% in 2009. Overseas visits to the U.S. are projected to fall 3.1%.

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