Air Travel Takes Off in Stable Economy: XNA Thrives Because of Business Travelers

In Northwest Arkansas’ insular economy, the travel business is flying high.

“Northwest Arkansas is very healthy,” said Phil Mayo, co-owner of Around the World Travel in Springdale. “We’re not affected as much by the dip in the economy.”

Mayo said his business dropped by 80 percent in the first three months after the terrorism of Sept. 11, 2001.

“We’re back beyond where we were before 9-11,” he said. Mayo’s wife Frances is co-owner of Around the World Travel.

The Mayos have shifted the focus of their business in the 14 years since they bought it in 1990. At first, business travelers accounted for 85 percent of their income. Now, leisure travelers account for 90 percent of their business. That change has helped the business stay profitable, Phil Mayo said.

While many airports across America cut flights from their schedules, the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport continues to add flights. The number of round-trip flights from XNA dropped from 46 to 38 after Sept. 11, 2001, but the airport now has 47 daily flights to 12 destinations. Enplanements were up 12 percent in 2003 to more than 445,000.

About two-thirds of the passengers who fly into XNA come here for business purposes, said Scott Van Laningham, the airport’s executive director.

“That’s high for most airports of this size,” he said, adding that a 50/50 split between business and leisure travel is probably the norm for airports the size of XNA.

Although many flights to and from XNA are filled with vendors calling on Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of Bentonville, many area residents are still heading out for vacations around the world.

Mexico and the Caribbean seem to be the hot spots right now for people traveling from Northwest Arkansas, several travel agents said. Mayo said those two destinations are popular year-round, and people are now booking spring and summer trips to Europe.

“Playa del Carmen is what Cancun was about 20 years ago,” Marsha Fuller, office manager at Gulliver’s International Tours of Fayetteville, said referring to the tourist towns on Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula. “It’s a great spot for families, a great spot for honeymooners and people just trying to get away from everything.”

Fuller said Gulliver’s International Tours sells 10-15 packages to Playa del Carmen every week, and that rate has been consistent over the past year and a half.

Most people who come to Northwest Arkansas for vacation travel by automobile and usually come from no farther away than states that border Arkansas.

“The bulk of it is a day’s drive,” Mayo said.

Around the World Travel and Design Travel Inc. of Rogers tied for No. 1 on the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s list of the area’s largest travel agencies (See stats, p. 24.) Each of those agencies reported more than $5 million in annual revenue last year but neither would give a figure more specific than that.

World Wide Travel of Fayetteville and Design Travel of Rogers tied for having the most travel agents. Each had seven.

World Wide Travel of Fayetteville was the oldest agency on our list. It was founded in 1970.