f Hber3,l
Business
mrsday, September 3,1992
The Battalion
Page 13
OP provides economic boost
the associated press Houston hotels set record occupancy
/eld
HOUSTON — Houston hote-
Irs have reaped a big bounce
nn last month's Republican Na-
[nal Convention, when occupan-
hit a 10-year high and rates set
ecord peak, industry members
think the convention was the
it thing to happen to the city in
'en or eight years," said Ron E.
Ikson, president of Sunbelt Ho-
Houston-area occupancy
iterate of 68.7 in August was the
Bhest for local hotels since June
982, according to Hospitality
Counselors, a hotel consulting
up.
fhe four-day convention, which
rates during Republican convention
began Aug. 17, also helped hotels
achieve some peak nightly rates.
The average area-wide room rate
for August was $65.62, up from
$54.89 a year earlier. Hospitality
Counselors said. It was the high
est average room rate for any Au
gust on record and the highest av
erage room rate since October
1991.
Downtown hotels had an aver
age room rate in August of
$103.86 — the first time it ever has
surpassed $100 per night, said
John Keeling, Hospitality Coun
selors president.
During the convention, some
hotels were getting near "rack
rates" — the typically high, but
seldom used, nightly rates posted
on the doors of hotel rooms, he
said.
"The hotels just didn't offer the
usual discount at a time of peak
demand," Keeling said.
The room rates charged during
the convention were consistent
with rates during other major con
ventions in Houston, said Donald
Ward, spokesman for the Greater
Houston Convention and Visitors
Bureau.
And the Republicans, who ne
gotiated the rates months before
the convention began, felt the
prices were competitive, said
Gary Koops, spokesman for the
Republican National Committee.
"There's no one that's complain
ing," he said.
Nick Massad, chairman of the
Houston Hotel and Motel Associ
ation, said the 17,000 people who
visited the city for the convention
provided a big boost to the local
hotel industry, which has about
32,000 hotel rooms.
Many hotels were full during
the convention, and some as far
away as Conroe housed conven
tion-related customers, Massad
said. On the negative side, some
other travelers avoided coming to
Houston in August because of the
convention.
eenyt
lief
ns
Tarines, two
,752 people,
s left home-
vept across
frito-Lay
o market
thin chip
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PLANO — Frito-l^ay Inc.
HU begin test marketing a
dinner version of its best-sell-
ng Dorito tortilla chips, hop-
ng to convert some potato
hip eaters, the company said
hesday.
Doritos Tortilla Thins are
bout the size of potato chips,
wo-thirds as thick as the nor-
nal Dorito chip. Company of-
icials are planning to intro-
luce the chips nationally in
he spring.
"We'll keep all our busi-
tesses bn their toes with some
pirited competition between
potato chips and tortilla
hips," said Sieve Liguori, vice
’resident* At -fri dAketm e*
orapany, which also makes
ay's and Ruffles brainyf)■potato
nips.
The company will test the
hips in Tulsa, Okla., and Om
aha, Neb. The Frito~Lay bakery
a Topeka, Kan., which serves
he two markets, is the first to
eceive the new, more precise
: tints a sign
riticized as
'■s after the
>f the storm
were in the
ana
a ted.
mmediate-
e of a sail-
iy 35 miles
e - three
all floating
odies were
was flown
determine
le said,
ts of miss-
the Coast
esday nighl
: cities were
Hy openinglquipment that makes the
hinner chips
"No one has ever been able
:oroll it this fine with this de
tee of precision until we've
ust figured out how to do it
>ver the last few months,"
Liguori said.
He said it will take a few
months to add the new equip
ment to Frito-Lay's more than
Mbakeries nationwide.
Tortilla chips, which have
less fat and salt than potato
diips, have seen faster grow-
sales than potato chips for
the past several years. Howev
er, it may be awhile before the
52.5 billion tortilla chip market
grows as large as the $4 billion
market for potato chips.
Federal reports estimate Andrew
ruined more than 100 oil platforms
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOUSTON — Hurricane Andrew severely dam
aged more than 100 offshore oil and natural gas plat
forms in the Gulf of Mexico, according to prelimi
nary federal reports.
The Department of the Interior's Mineral Manage
ment Service said Tuesday there have been no re
ports of death or injury to offshore workers, but
many structures were damaged.
The Ship Shoal and South Timbalier areas south of
Morgan City, La., sustained the most offshore dam
age, MMS Director Scott Sewell said.
"North and east of the storm track, nearly every
platform within a 20-mile swath had some impacts/'
Sewell said. "We're estimating that more than 100
platforms were severely damaged. In addition, 13
platforms are toppled."
He said all missing mobile drilling units had been
located.
Overall, Sewell said about 1 billion cubic feet of
the roughly 15 billion cubic feet of natural gas pro
duced daily in the Gulf has been lost temporarily.
while up> to 15 percent of the nation's oil refining ca
pability also has been temporarily interrupted.
The report was released the same day the Depart
ment of Energy's independent analytical agency En
ergy Information Administration downplayed dam
age estimates and their possible affect on the natural
gas market.
Calvin A. Kent, EIA administrator, called reports
about possible gas supply shortages "unjustifiably
alarmist."
Kent said Tuesday there will be "short-run effects
and dislocations but supplies for the winter should
not be affected."
The Mineral Management Service said Tuesday
that "natural gas supplies will be drawn down, but
the long-term impacts appear to be minimal."
The interior department's service also said evacu
ated offshore oil field were returning to platforms
and resuming production off the Texas coast.
"Offshore western Louisiana, however, produc
tion will not begin until pipelines have been tested
for pressure integrity," Sewell said.
Dow Jones rallies to post
highest gain since August
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK - The stock mar
ket jumped ahead in late trading
Wednesday, getting some encour
agement from declining interest
rates.
The Dow Jones average of 30
industrials rose 24.05 points to
3,290.31, for its best daily showing
in more than a month.
Advancing issues outnumbered
declines by about 5 to 3 on the
New York Stock Exchange.
Big Board volume came to an
estimated 186.94 million shares as
of 4 p.m. EDT, up from 172.65
million in the previous session.
Analysts said investors were
cautiously watching the dollar in
foreign exchange as it touched
new post-World War II lows
against the German mark.
After stabilizing last week in
currency trading, the dollar has
drifted lower again lately.
Meanwhile, the markets had to
absorb fresh evidence that the
economy was still struggling to
mount a sustained recovery from
the recession.
The Commerce Department re
ported that new factory orders fell
1.1 percent in July, in a somewhat
weaker showing than analysts
had been expecting.
That news helped encourage a
mild decline in interest rates.
Prices of long-term government
bonds rose about $2.50 for each
$1,000 in face value, lowering
their yields to around 7.36 per
cent.
Gainers among the blue chips
included Philip Morris, up 13/8 at
841/8; Minnesota Mining & Man
ufacturing, up 13/8 at 100; Inter
national Paper up 13/8 at 645/8;
Sears Roebuck, up 5/8 at 421/2,
and Aluminum Co. of America,
up 23/4 at 677/8.
Philip Morris, which has been
rallying since it raised its divi
dend by almost 24 percent last
week, traded at a record high.
"Although investors have come
to expect a steadily rising divi
dend from the tobacco, food and
beverage giant," said Standard &
Poor's Outlook advisory in this
week's edition, "we see the latest
move as a signal that manage
ment believes the company will
continue to increase profits by at
least 20 percent a year."
BARYSHNIKOV
JR. FULRRIGHT
Grants for Graduate Research Abroad for U.S. Citizens
* APPLY NOW*
Informational Meetings
From 3:30 - 4:30 PM in 251 Bizzell Hall West
ATTEND ONE OF THESE DATES:
9/3 or 9/9
Study Abroad Programs 161 Bizzell Hall West 845-0544
AWENTOM
GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN
FOR THE
AGGIELAND!
WHEN: Sept. 7 - Oct. 2,
Monday - Friday
9:00 am - 5:00 pm
WHERE: AR Photography
707 Texas Ave.
next to Taco Cabana
LADY AGGIE
WALKON MEETING
Anyone interested in tiying out
\forkTexasMUiwersity
Wom'sMeMTeam
needs to attend an
iitaaWmeeSnj
Thursday
12 { Septembers
y j i . ^ p.m.
Mm \ L
# Womens Athletics
Room 225
Student Services Building
Don’t Miss Out!
WELCOME BACK
AGGIES!
SUPER HOT SAVINGS
ON
DOUBLE PRINTS
AS LOW AS
Good on developing
and printing 2 sets of
standard size 3’ 1 prints or
a single set of 4"prints.
From 110, disc, 126 or
35mm color print film
C-41 process only.
12 exp. $2.95
15 disc $3.25
24 exp. $4.95
36 exp. $6.95
Limited offer from Sept. 1-7, 1992
PHOTOGRAPHIC SERVICES
located in REED MCDONALD with drop boxes
in the Common Market and Sbisa Underground Market