Everyone is looking for a good investment these days.
And with stocks, currencies and companies all crashing, some are finding that taking the trip of a lifetime is actually a smart move right now.
Prices are good, crowds are fewer and the dividends like expanded worldview, lifelong memories, the satisfaction of boosting the global economy—can't be easily snatched away.
Sylvia and Paul Custerson, a retired couple from Cambridge, England, recently took a 16-day vacation to Namibia, where they went on bird-watching excursions.
Later this year, they are planning a trip to Patagonia.
"We're using our capital now," says Sylvia, "And why not?
We're not getting any interest in the bank.
If it's a place we really want to go, then we will go.
We may as well travel while we're fit and healthy. "
Some travel agents are thriving in spite of the economy.
"We've had more people booking in the first quarter of this year than last," says Hubert Moineau, founder of Tselana Travel,
which is planning to introduce a new program of longer adventure trips, including polar expeditions and cruises in the Galápagos.
"We're hearing things like, 'We don't know what the situation will be in six months so let's travel now' ", Ashley Toft, managing director of the U. K. tour operator Explore has been surprised to see an increase in last-minute bookings of high-priced trips to such places as India, Bhutan and Nepal.
"It seems people would rather give up something else than the big trip," he says.
Travel has become a necessity.
It's just how we travel that is changing.