Wholesale tourism booms

Travel discounters, wholesalers and consolidators are thriving in South Florida as U.S. visitor numbers dwindle and Europeans take their place. Room rates in the area have dropped 11 percent, and that’s spurred foreign visitors to increase their numbers here. Hotels that normally wouldn’t do bulk sales or discounts are more open to the idea, travel wholesaler Arturo Armayor said. Heike Beck, of New World Travel, who caters to the German market, said last year was her best in 30 years of business.