US travelers are delaying reservations until the last minute and bookings have fallen off slightly as an Iraq war draws nearer, travel agencies, airlines, hotel and cruise operators said on Monday.
"Since the political environment has been in this state of limbo -- of looming action but not taking action -- people have been reluctant to firmly commit to plans," said Amy Ziff, who writes a weekly column for online travel agent Travelocity.
"People are just waiting until the last minute. They're deciding to hold off and see."
Businesses in the travel industry pressed forward with their contingency planning as the US, Britain and Spain decided to forgo UN approval to act against Iraq.
Corporate travel agent Rosenbluth International Travel Management has seen bookings fall off by about 10 percent in the last five days against figures from a year ago and against figures from the previous week, said Keith Jackson, vice president of finance and business operations.
Jackson said, though, he does not expect reservations to decline this time as much as they did right after the Sept. 11 attacks. In the three weeks after Sept. 11, some of Rosenbluth's clients cut travel by 50 percent, he said.
"We'll see a reduction, but if there's a terrorist attack on our shores, you'll probably see a greater, more rapid reduction," Jackson said.
Delta Air Lines spokeswoman Peggy Estes said on Monday that the No. 3 US airline has seen some decrease in transatlantic bookings in the last week, but domestic bookings have held steady.
US airlines, bracing for slack travel demand in the event of a war with Iraq, have said they will cut back on capacity when war starts.
Most major airlines also have introduced new flexible ticket policies to encourage customers to go forward with travel plans. The policies allow passengers to make changes to tickets without fees or even cancel trips and use the credit towards future tickets.
Such policies, combined with low airfares, have helped offset hesitation about making reservations, said Terri Shank, a spokeswoman for online travel agency Orbitz.
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