Eurostar 1st half sales down 7 percent, but leisure travel segment boosted by euro strength

September 30th, 2009 Travel + Leisure mag names best destination spasNEW YORK — Only two spas in the Eastern U.S. made it onto Travel + Leisure's top 10 list of the world's best destination spas.

September 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Passenger car leader Maruti Suzuki India Tuesday reported sales of 84,808 vehicles in August, registering a growth of 41.6 percent over that in the corresponding month last year. The sales include 14,847 units exported, Maruti said in a regulatory statement.

September 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Skoda Auto India Tuesday reported sales of 1,463 units in August as against 1,103 units in the like month last year, reflecting a year-on-year growth of 33 percent. According to the company, its Skoda Octavia and the New Skoda Laura proved to be the hottest selling cars in the high-end C+ segment with sales figure of 627 units in August 2009.

August 5th, 2009 Euro retail sales fall 0.2 pct in JuneBRUSSELS — The European Union says retail sales in the 16 nations that use the euro fell 0.2 percent in June from a month earlier, showing that consumers are wary of spending as unemployment hits a 10-year high. Shoppers cut back spending both on daily essentials such as food, drink and tobacco and on non-food items such as clothing, electronics and medicines.

August 1st, 2009 MUMBAI - India's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki Saturday reported a 33.4 percent increase in sales for July to 78,074 units compared to 58,543 units in the same month last year. Of these 10,546 cars were exported.

July 3rd, 2009 Euro zone retail sales down 0.4 percent in MayLONDON — Retail sales fell in May in the 16 countries that use the euro, in a further sign that consumers aren't optimistic about their future in the midst of a deep and widespread recession. Eurostat, the EU's statistics office, says retail sales in the euro zone fell by 0.4 percent from the previous month.

July 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Passenger car market leader Maruti Suzuki Wednesday reported a 22.6 percent surge in its sales in June, compared to the same month a year ago. The company sold 75,109 units, including export of 13,336 units, this June as compared to 61,247 in the same month last year, it said in a statement.

July 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Passenger car manufacturer Hyundai Motor Wednesday said its sales (including exports) rose 17.6 percent to 47,267 units in June as against 40,182 units in the same month last year. The company's exports grew at a faster pace, logging 32.5 percent rise at 24,251 units, compared to 18,301 units exported in June 2008.

June 16th, 2009 IATA: Premium travel dropped 22 percent in AprilMINNEAPOLIS — More evidence emerged Tuesday that a bad economy pushes passengers to the back of the plane, as a trade group reported that traffic in the high-end airline seats fell 22 percent in April. Revenue from those passengers fell even faster, down an estimated 44 percent from April 2008, the International Air Transport Association reported.

June 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Passenger car market leader Maruti Suzuki India Ltd Monday reported a 15.7 percent surge in its sales in May. The company sold 79,872 units, including 9,087 exported units, in May as compared to 69,001 in the same period last year, the company said in a regulatory statement.

May 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - The country's largest passenger car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki India Ltd Friday reported 15 percent growth in its sales, at 71,748 units sold in April as compared to 62,336 units in the corresponding period previous year. 'This is the fourth consecutive month of sales crossing the 70,000 units mark,' a company statement said.

April 27th, 2009 PhoCusWright says online travel finally downSHERMAN, Conn. — The recession is finally taking its toll on online travel, with a decline in revenues this year forecast by PhoCusWright, the travel industry research company.

April 8th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India's auto industry, which was hit hard by the global financial crisis that started in mid-2008, ended last fiscal with a marginal 0.7 percent growth in sales, thanks to the government's stimulus measures. The auto makers sold 97,23,391 vehicles in 2008-09, up from 96,54,435 units the year before, data released Wednesday by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufactures (SIAM) said.

February 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Auto major Hyundai Motor India Monday said its domestic sales in January were down 13.5 percent to 21,016 units from 24,301 units in the corresponding month last year. However, total sales including exports saw only a marginal dip of 1.3 percent to 37,216 units in the period under review from 37,700 units in the year-ago period.

January 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The struggling auto industry continued to tumble for the fourth consecutive month with the commercial vehicle (CV) sales for December dipping 58.2 percent and overall sales declining 18.2 percent year-on-year, data released Monday showed According to the data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam), auto-makers sold 17,920 commercial vehicles in December 2008 as against 42,961 units the year before marking a 58.2 percent dip in sales, the worst in 11 years. The passenger car segment showed some signs of picking up with a 6.9 percent decline in year-on year sales, much below the 24 percent recorded last month.