Global Economic slowdown and the effect on us travellers?

Hello all,

Maybe this is a bit too deep to be asking as we approach another weekend, but lets have a go...

I think it is clear to most ppl that the economies of our first world countries are in a definate slowdown and where its going to stop we are not too sure, With the world rolling up into more of a global economy these days the hit will continue to be felt around the globe as the big players continue to fall.

I am a business minded person so i have been intrigued thinking about how this will impact us all in persuing our love of travel. Obviously with an economic slowdown in our own countries we will have less disposable income to spend on lifes luxuries, do you think this will mean that people will be cutting back on those overseas jaunts, will this inturn reduce tourism and demand to the destinations (some of which rely heavily on this to their own economy)? The impact on this to those communites will be felt but how would this impact on the afordability and prices when travelling within those countries?

Something particularly intriguing is how the global slowdown will impact the poorer countries. Im thinking that as the demand for scarce resources and commodities is ever increasing there may be opportunites for these countries to benefit in that respect where there are resources available in these countries? If so what impact do you think this would have on our experiences travelling to these countries?

Will there be winners and losers in this global slowdown or do we think that every corner will come out the other side bruised and battered? Im not expecting any economists to be browsing here to shed some light on it all, but i know that we have a lot of SMART people in this community so just putting it out there to see what we think our lives as travellers will be like in the comming years?

Daniel

From my perspective as a retired American, I see plainly that fewer of us can afford places like Europe these days, and more Europeans are coming here due to their economic advantage over us. I do think that the cheaper destinations will benefit from the slowdown, and that places like Scandinavia and Switzerland will see a loss of tourist Dollars, Pounds and Euros. Tourism is booming these days in SE Asia. People here never used to give a thought to hitting the road for a few days, but now even a basic motel room costs $75. to $100. (with a little planning I can save money by going to cheaper parts of the world).