Yes, the global financial crisis is affecting us all in some way, and often is not good news. When it comes to travel, people tend to do it less. Holidays are shorter, or destinations are closer to where we normally live. Hotels have less bookings, airlines less flyers.

But there is some good news: as a consequence of all this prices are going down, and if you’re willing to travel now you can get some great deals that you wouldn’t have dreamed of even just one year ago.

Airline prices are into a “pleasant descent“. Low cost carriers meanwhile continue their rapid growth. According to KPMG “Traditional airlines are already moving closer to the low-cost model, but they will need to do so even more rapidly. In the long run the current downturn will squeeze the gap between low-cost carriers and traditional ones.”

Hotelmarketing.com reports that global hotel prices are down by 12%. At the same time online hotel booking, ensuring better prices is becoming the main way to pick your hotel when travelling. Traveldailynews reports how according to Hotel.info “the economic crisis and associated corporate pressure to reduce costs has created a clear trend for increased use of low cost online hotel reservation tools”.

Hostels meanwhile are upscaling to fill the gap, offering more comfort at still decent prices with “boutique” and “flashpackers” hostels.  HostelWorld puts it like this: “Credit crunch sees hostels turn from bleak to chic”.

So it’s not all bad news if you have some time (or some saving) to travel in 2009. Flashpacking seems to be a great way to do it, putting together the need for comfort with the will of not wanting to blow your budget.

Travellers needs and profiles are changing, the market is trying to change accordingly. Whoever is not able to adapt will suffer. But for the consumer, the traveller, is not bad news at all.

As Carl Sparks, general manager of Hotels.com, said: “While hotels faced a challenging environment in the fourth quarter, they rolled out the welcome mat to travelers like we have never seen before to fill rooms. Properties are continuing to offer compelling rates and added value options, so it continues to be an excellent time for people to plan trips and secure great deals.”