Gathered from a variety of sources, here are some recent news articles about the travel and tourism industry.

The Haves and Have Nots of U.S. State Tourism Budgets

The budgets for the top ten U.S. state tourism offices, including Hawaii, Florida,California and Texas, represent more than half, or 53.5 percent, of the total budget for all state tourism offices.

More Americans Working Through Their Vacation Time

More Americans than ever are stressed about their jobs, and unfortunately, fewer and fewer are taking time off.

Hotel guests are finally happy, J.D. Power study says

Maybe the hotel check-in process has been simplified. Perhaps it’s easier to make a reservation. Or maybe employees are just smiling more at guests. Whatever they’ve done is working. After years of declining consumer satisfaction, the hotel industry is finally making us happier. Markedly happier.

STR Global Issues 2013 International Hotel Performance Metrics

STR Global issued key performance metrics results for hotel properties in the Americas, Europe and the Middle East and Africa for the first six months of 2013.