A few weeks ago I talked with Kelli B. Grant at SmartMoney.com about financial crisis tourism in European destinations like Iceland, Portugal, and Greece. To prep for the interview, I turned to Hotels.com‘s annual price index, which always does a good job telling us what people are paying for rooms these days. My favorite stat from the report is that U.S. hotel prices have gone back to 2004-2005 levels this year — an improvement over last year’s numbers, but still low. It’s one of the main reasons that we’ve been recommending U.S. vacations this summer (and the fuel surcharges certainly help, too). 

Bonus: The story has been either licensed or “licensed” by a Russian outfit that has it na russkie yazik: “Финансовый кризис на руку путешественникам”