TBR Index Resumes Upward Climb

<B> TBR Index Resumes Upward Climb</B>

The Travel Business Roundtable Index of Leading Economic Indicators continued its general upward trend in April with a 1.1 percent increase, rebounding from a 0.7 percent dip in March.

The U.S. Index of Leading Economic Indicators, meanwhile, grew by only 0.1 percent as a result of a decline in manufacturing.

Economist James Howell, who created of the TBR Index, said that decline indicates "that the U.S. economy is no longer dominated by manufacturing activity, although far too many economic commentators continue to believe it is. The national economy is much more diverse now, reflecting the activities of a number of the more rapidly growing sectors, of which the travel and tourism industry is an excellent example. It is this overall balance that provides our economy with its balanced growth momentum and strength, even during times such as these in terms of the Asian financial crisis."

The April increase in the TBR Index came from growth in seven of the nine economic indicators that make up the Index.: total Airlines Reporting Corp. sales, Air Transport Association reported revenue passenger miles, Smith Travel Research's hotel/motel revenue index, Smith's hotel/motel occupancy rate, the Conference Board's consumer confidence index, Bureau of Economic Analysis personal consumption expenditures for travel and other services, and Department of Commerce and Bureau of Census retail sales at eating and drinking establishments.

Car rental price per day, as measured by an index provided by one major industry player, registered a slight decline. The level of travel industry employment, according to data generated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, was flat.