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(Dive Travel Business News - April 25, 2011) -- Despite predictions that the demise of the travel profession is all but arrived, travel professionals are experiencing an unprecedented come-back.  With natural disasters causing flight cancellations, revolutions putting tourist destinations off limits, and airline and rental car agencies confounding travelers with increasingly complex fees, vacations are becoming increasingly difficult to plan and execute.  On top of this, the Internet generates so much information that it has managed to confuse consumers trying to plan their own vacations.

A recent article in The Washington Post touts consumers are increasingly turning to travel professionals to handle their travel needs. Travelers are on information overload when it comes to planning their own trips. A study by Forrester Research found that the number of leisure travelers who enjoyed using the Web to plan and book their vacations dropped from 53 percent in 2007 to 47 percent in 2010. read more »

(Dive Travel Business News - August 5, 2010) -- Mexicana Airlines filed for bankruptcy protection in Mexico and the U.S. earlier this week. The airline reported $1.2 billion in liabilities as of June 30, and $768.5 million in assets. Creditors have seized three of Mexicana's planes. The company owns nine of the 64 aircraft in its fleet. During its restructuring, Mexicana intends to cut staff pay and benefits.

Mexicana suspended ticket sales on Wednesday August 4. The airline said it will "continue to operate its flights as scheduled to protect its passengers."

"Clearly, they’re not going to be operating very long without selling tickets," said analyst Bob Mann of aviation consultancy RW Mann. "The actions they’ve taken are actually quite drastic and I’m not sure they’ve made it any better, only more urgent. Current bookings won’t be enough to keep it flying very long." read more »