AAA bookings up

Cold winter weather and a hot stock market were cited as factors last month in pushing AAA bookings 13% higher than the previous December levels, according to Sandra Hughes, travel vice president at AAA. World events slowed the travel business during the first half of the year, she said. But big-ticket items such as cruises and vacation packages were noticeably up last month. Other findings from the study on agencies representing half of AAA‘s 46 million members: —Cruise bookings were up 31% from the previous year. —Tour packages were up 12% from last December. —Hotel bookings were up 8% over the last year. —Car rental reservations were up 4%.