Originally Posted by tandempower

Even if the total number of people traveling (or trips taken) would be more, that wouldn't mean that travel isn't reaching its limits. Look at the limiting factors of different modes of transportation and you will see factors that discourage instead of encourage users. Increased airport security and disasters are not planned deterrents but they have a limiting effect on demand, which still doesn't push the supply side to the point of creating incentives to attract more business. This suggests that there is no shortage of demand.

Auto travel is also nothing like what it was in earlier decades, when the US masses flocked up and down highways in search of seasonal comfort. High fuel prices are the direct deterrent for such liberal driving-travel, but the more general cause is a global economy that is cutting back demand on multiple levels because there is widespread dissatisfaction with mass travel. Remember that the 2001 WTC attacks were preceded by global-scale anti-globalization resistance that is still present. Xenophobia in Europe has steadily increased, or at least steadily grown more visible. US xenophobia is back on the rise as well after what seemed to be a few years of calm, probably only due to reduced migration as a result of economic recession.

For the same reason car-free living is growing in popularity, so should car-free travel. People just don't like being stuck driving in traffic everywhere. This may seem like a purely psychological effect divorced from economics but travel is limited by psychological factors more than hard economic limits, such as a lack of seats on planes or beds in hotels. Also, there is tiered market-pricing for airplane seats and hotel rooms so they will never all fill up. Instead, the number of people who would travel if the prices were more affordable keeps increasing because people simply forego what seems too pricey for their budget.