Recent years have been rough on the travel industry. Travel agents say the events of Sept. 11, 2001, conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq and the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome outbreak have led to hard times.

“We’re way down, way off,” said Jim Twyman, owner of A-1 Travel, which specializes in international vacations and tours. Three years ago, his agency was offering popular trips to Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Alaska and New England. Since 9-11, his company has cut back to just offering the New England fall foliage tour.

“Business is a little up [this year], but it’s not even close to being back to normal,” he said. In fact, with the financial crunch in the industry, Twyman says he has chosen to enter semi-retirement.

Dean Burtch, owner of Allied Travel Services Inc., says it been the most challenging time he’s experienced in the last two decades.

“Well, this year had been better than last year, but we’re only a few months in,” he said. “Who knows what the new year will bring? With war, the economy, terrorism and SARS, there are so many negatives. Our only opportunity is to control expenses while at the same time marketing, advertising and promoting our business in order to increase revenue.”

Other agencies are taking different paths to survival. For Mary Glynn, owner of Cruise One, the answer was specialization. For Nancy Chavannes, owner of Travel Services Unlimited, the answer was diversification.

“We’re at about the same volume as before (2001),” said Glynn, whose agency specializes in cruises. “I think if your business is dependent on airlines, it’s been cut a lot because airlines have cut a lot of flights out of Des Moines. It makes it hard to get away, but people still want to cruise. Fewer people want to cruise the Mediterranean, of course, but Alaska and the Caribbean are still popular.”

Chavannes, whose office is located on the second floor of Kaleidoscope at the Hub, says her agency is blessed by all of the foot traffic, and she is “hanging in there.” When her business was going through its roughest point, however, she was struck with an idea.

“We’re downtown, and people would stop and ask us where they could get a good bottle of wine,” she said. “There wasn’t any place close by, and I thought, ‘I could do that!'” She uses the wine business to supplement the agency’s income and to promote wine trips to California, southern France and Italy.

Chavannes has noticed a recent increase in family travel. In the past, she said, kids went to camp and their parents went on vacation. Now famies travel together.

Kay King, owner of Travel World, said she has noticed the same trend. She said extended family members often trek off to family-friendly destinations like Walt Disney World and other theme parks or cruises. One change to the family vacation, however, is the duration.

“People are taking four- or five-day trips, or long weekends,” she said. “It’s easier for parents to find a sitter if they want to travel on their own, and it’s easier to get two days off of work instead of seven. Families are busy, and it allows them to do more.”

Dixie Juve, a travel consultant with Travel Center Ltd., said her agency experienced hard times, but is on an upswing. Travel Center Ltd.’s clientele is 50 to 60 percent corporate travelers, and businesses have trimmed travel budgets. Nonetheless, Juve says business conditions are improving.

“People are more comfortable traveling again,” she said. “Travel has picked up and we’ve been quite busy. We’re not back to where we were before, yet, but we’re watching the markets, and we always give the best service we can.”

Des Moines’ travel agents are hopeful that the current increase in travel will continue, but remain wary after watching a string of catastrophes hit their industry.

Looking up

In March, passenger traffic at the Des Moines International Airport increased for the 11th consecutive month. These results run counter to an national trend of decreased air traffic. That month, 154,800 people arrived in or departed from the airport, up more than 4 percent the same period a year ago. The year-to date increase in passenger traffic is 8 percent. Airport officials in part credit the increase to lower airfares, bringing average flight costs down to $50 more than the average cost of a flight from Omaha and $74 more than flights from Kansas City.