Expedia bounces back from attacks

The US travel website Expedia has seen bookings bounce back from a slump immediately after 11 September.

Yet, the company has slashed its profit forecast for the year by 20% to $40m.

Expedia expressed concern about the way further acts of terror in the US and the actions by the US armed forces could hit its bottom line.

Further problems in the airline industry could also bring bad news for the travel industry at large, the company said.

"While we expect these events to continue to affect our results, the steadily recovering travel business and our strong balance sheet will allow us to continue to build on our past successes," chief executive Richard Barton said.

Expedia had already seen advertising and licensing revenues fall.

But its first quarter profits came in above analysts' expectations.

The website's net operating profits topped $15m during the quarter that ended on 30 September, a complete turn-around from a $1.6m loss a year earlier.

Travel happy

Expedia's results were released just hours after its UK subsidiary published a survey which suggested that 9% of people are more, not less, likely to travel now than they were ahead of the attacks on Afghanistan.

The survey suggested that 75% of men were happy to travel while just 57% of women agreed.

Airlines, travel agents and holiday companies were reporting a rise in demand for short trips, the survey said.

Indeed, NetValue reports that more than three million people have visited one of the top ten travel and transport websites in the UK in September.

"The whole industry will be uplifted to hear that consumer confidence is still buoyant," said Expedia.co.uk's managing director James Vaile.

"The British mentality of Business As Usual holds firm for the vast majority of travellers."

"We must all continue to offer value-added promotions and deals to entice consumers to spend," he said, urging the travel industry to pull together to "convert confidence into sales".

Shares in Expedia rose 89% in after-hours trading, bouncing back from a 2% fall when the markets were open ahead of the announcement.