TBR Index Up Again In Feb.

<B> TBR Index Up Again In Feb.</B>

February's Travel Business Roundtable Index of Leading Economic Indicators rose another 1.2 percent, duplicating January's strong showing. The Conference Board's U.S. Index of Leading Economic Indicators also grew for the month, albeit by a more modest 0.2 percent.

"The travel and tourism industry has continued to grow at a much faster pace than the country as a whole and to make a very positive contribution to it," said Jonathan Tisch, president and CEO of Loews Hotels and chair of the Travel Business Roundtable.

Increases came from eight of the nine components of the TBR Index in February: total Airlines Reporting Corp. sales, Air Transport Association revenue passenger miles, the Bureau of Economic Analysis' personal consumption expenditures for travel and other discretionary products, the Conference Board's consumer confidence index, Department of Commerce and Bureau of Census data on retail sales at eating and drinking establishments, Smith Travel Research statistics on hotel/motel occupancy rates and revenue, and the daily rental car price index provided by a top industry provider. Performance was flat only for the Bureau of Labor Statistics' measure of travel industry employment.

Dr. James Howell, president of the Howell Group, which generates the monthly TBR Index and provides analysis, noted that the U.S. Index rose, despite a "somewhat lackluster performance for six of the ten economic performance variables," due to fewer unemployment claims and a strong increase in consumer expectations.

The February increases in the TBR and the U.S. economy as a whole, he said, "point clearly to a continuation of growth in the United States and the travel and tourism industry over the balance of 1999.