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By LAURA DEJEAN, Special to the Daily Transcript
Tuesday, September 10, 2002
One of the hardest hit industries since last year's terrorist attacks was travel and tourism. While may think first of the airlines or hotels, John Hawkins thinks first of ground transportation. As CEO of Cloud 9 Shuttle, his business has been deeply affected by the events of last year.
"Cloud 9 Shuttle has had to re-invent itself since 9/11," Hawkins said. "Initially responding to very low demand for travel-related products, we restructured financially with regards to all costs and personnel. ... Air transportation demand has declined proportionately with that of the airlines, making it mandatory to diversify in order to be able to efficiently use capital, equipment and people."
Within one month, Cloud 9 had altered its marketing strategies, targeting long-range ground transportation opportunities between San Diego and areas such as Los Angeles, San Pedro pier and Long Beach Airport. Called the LA Porter, the shuttles benefit San Diegans who choose not to travel on shorter connecting flights to the LA area.
While previous attention was focused on the business traveler, Cloud 9 is now targeting the leisure traveler. "The business traveler simply isn't traveling anymore, and some forecasts believe this trend to be permanent," Hawkins said. "However, San Diego is fortunate to be a great leisure and convention destination and Cloud 9 is in the process of modifying its operations to be able to accommodate the needs of its particular customers."
But even as restructuring has helped focus the company's resources, the travel/tourism industry remains in flux. "The old business model that relied on volume and economies of scale is gone," Hawkins said. "At the same time the costs of doing business are up, in some cases, way up -- especially related to insurance, which has increased 150 percent to 200 percent."
Hawkins points out that recent surveys show that public faith in air travel is down, and people are choosing to drive, rather than fly, even longer distances.
"Unfortunately, I think Mr. Bin Laden accomplished what he intended to do. He has made our society cautious, fearful and in some cases, even paranoid. The commercial community, which was struggling prior to 9/11, was cast into a more severe recession, affecting the world economy."
Desjean is a free-lance writer based in Encinitas.
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