Six Ways Travel Can be Helped by the Recession

02.09.09 | 10:06 AM ET

Tough economic periods famously create a greater appreciation of the basics. We forego frills and, in the process, discover lost values. Travel, while itself a luxury that some people might drop, could nevertheless benefit from the crisis if ...

... hotels stop trying to be destinations. Sometimes—especially these times—you just want a place to lay your head. But more and more lodgings pretend to be all-purpose resorts. They think that if they put in a spa—even if it’s a glorified steam room—they can charge you $200 a night. And treat you like a peasant. The genius Ian Schrager discovered that you can get people to overpay for ridiculously small rooms if you paint everything white and make the lobby a scene. Countless others have tried to follow his lead, and the result has been a paucity of buzzless, reasonably priced alternatives as well as the worldwide practice of couch-surfing. In these lean times the new model hotelier should not be Mr. Schrager but Dr. Charles Henn, whose Atlanta Hotel in Bangkok offers basic rooms, an Art Deco lobby, a pool and garden, a superb restaurant and a library of signed books written by guests. In other words, character instead of attitude. And the rates are so low (as evidenced by the library) that even writers can afford to stay there.

... chefs stop trying to be celebrities (unless, of course, they also write). Too much fame doesn’t necessarily ruin the food, but it does raise the prices. A lot of toque-heads are no longer content to stick with the simple stuff (despite the best efforts of Jane and Michael Stern); they want to put their signature on a dish. Eating out has become a kind of name-dropping—“We went to Johnny V’s last night”—but it’s also become wallet-emptying. Happily, there are many more alternatives to fine dining than there are to fine lodging, which suggests the need for a new concept: ethnic hotels.

... cruise ships start shrinking. Nothing needs downsizing more than this industry. Granted, it makes perfect economic sense for a cruise line to build another Porky of the Seas. But that’s the only sense it makes. Five thousand people together on a ship use up an awful lot of fuel, create a tremendous amount of garbage and often overwhelm the towns they stop in. The new ships are modern-day Trojan horses, lording over their destinations like wondrous gifts but in the long run wreaking havoc. 

... travel books become big. This genre hasn’t been popular since the ‘80s when publishers came out with travel series, and non-travel magazines, like Granta and Rolling Stone, published travel essays. After that, people started traveling more and reading less. Maybe, with mounting unemployment, these trends will reverse. And what’s good for travel writers is good for travel (even if it’s only the vicarious sort).

... people discover their own backyards. For some, travel has become a competitive sport as they try to impress with tales of the obscure—“We had the most amazing time in Szekelyudvarhely”—and dismiss every place else as tame or passé. Of the 25 stories in “The Best American Travel Writing 2008,” one was set in the United States. Perhaps now, out of necessity, the homegrown will become as prized by travelers as it is by foodies.

... we can stop having to take off our shoes. This is a wonderful country, but it’s also about the only one in which you have to remove your footwear to board a plane. Personal appearance often takes a hit in a recession, so perhaps the good folks at TSA can discontinue this ridiculous practice in deference to travelers with holes in their socks.

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