U.S. Travel Industry Expects Only a Modest Recovery in 2010 | nytimes.com

For the travel industry, 2009 is a year best forgotten, or as the chairman of Southwest Airlines, Gary C. Kelly, put it in a message to customers, it was “an annus horribilis.” And the prospects for 2010? This is typically when the industry issues its forecasts for the year ahead, and those forecasts are often shaded with optimism about better times ahead. But this time, many travel executives and analysts are declining to make rosy predictions.