Rising airfare effects on show attendance
 

They are saying now that air fares are expected to double and triple this summer over what they were last summer. For instance, a round trip ticket from Phoenix to Miami on American Airlines last July was $248. This year it is $660. With the rising prices how do you see this affecting show attendance? Will bigger companies be sending less reps? Will smaller webmasters just be SOL? Will shows follow Xbiz's lead and offer free registrations?

Give me your thoughts.

just a quick search for flights i found a flight from phx to mia for an internext flight
462$ total for an us airways flight :)

my wife books a TON of flights and prices havnt really gone up THAT much

I really hope other shows follows XBiz's lead of eliminating attendee registration fees. The value from an attendee's point of view is getting to the point that paying $150 - $300 to attend isn't worth it as the number of sponsors exhibiting has been dropping and so has the size of the shows in general.
WG

Just curious, is that a direct flight?

Do you know the sponsorship cost between xbiz shows vs avn shows??

I am thinking they are fairly comparable.

I think that the shows are way over priced, and yeah in the long run as flights go up, the numbers will decrease.

I just checked out airfare from Fort Lauderdale to Vegas for XBiz and the price is at least $150 higher than I paid the last time I flew to Vegas on the same airline, Spirit. You would think that they would encourage people to vacation in the desert during the sweltering summer months with some discounts!

PHL to FLL is $242.00 in August
It's about $100 more than last year.