Is it Orlando, the only resort destination city that draws more visitors than Las Vegas?

Is it Atlantic City, where investors see potential in some new resorts and a market that can draw from the population centers of New York, Washington, D.C.?

How about the South, nearing recovery from Hurricane Katrina and ready to roll out the welcome mat with some great travel deals?

Or Hawaii, an island paradise that is getting more direct flights from the likes of Southwest Airlines partner ATA Airlines?

Will the congested freeways of Southern California discourage residents from making the trek to Las Vegas and give tribal casinos a boost?

Some experts at Travelpalooza, a trade show sponsored by Florida-based Global Travel International, a company that networks independent travel agents worldwide, believes Las Vegas' most aggressive competitor will be the cruise ship industry.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority has acknowledged that cruise ships are formidable competitors because they offer many of the things Las Vegas sells - an escape from the ordinary.

The cruise industry has a sliver of the market share with more than 90 million people visiting Orlando and Las Vegas each year and only 11 million take cruises to a variety of destinations around the globe.

In a Travelpalooza panel, representatives of four major cruise lines predicted that 2007 would be a banner year for the industry.

"We expect to have the best year in our history," said Dave Stockert, director of the Holland America Line. "Usually, either Alaska or Europe are the hot destinations for the year, but over the last couple of years and for the years ahead, both of them are expected to set records."

Hans Rood, president of the Norwegian Coast Cruise Line, said 2007 cruises for his line are already half full and he expects them to be three-quarters full by the end of February, the end of the two-month period when most cruise reservations are made.

Rood's company is targeting the Baby Boomer - currently, Las Vegas' visitor sweet spot - because the Baby Boomer has the highest level of disposable income.

Panelist Maurice Zarmati, vice president of worldwide sales for Carnival Cruise Lines, said that over the next four years, the major cruise lines will add 45 new vessels.

"We're creating a big marketing campaign because the cruise industry is not fully mature," he said. "We're only at about 3 to 4 percent of maturity. We see Las Vegas as a fully mature industry."

About half the cruise audience comes from six states because they're relatively close to U.S. ports and can drive to the port city. But the bad news for Orlando and Las Vegas is that two of those states are Florida and California.

Travel agents were told that the best way to sell cruises is to sell people on all the amenities offered on cruises - varieties of destinations and voyage lengths, desirable ports of call, good food, entertainment and shows, swimming and recreational activities and, a relatively new trend, "free style" dining in which guests can eat where they want, when they want and with whom they want, thanks to technological advances that help control crowds.

The Norwegian Cruise Line's Pearl will even have an on-board bowling alley.

"We encourage selling the all-inclusive price," said panelist Terri Burke, vice president of business development with the Norwegian Cruise Line. "No offense to Vegas, but they really nickel-and-dime you with charges for many services like the bellhop."

But cruise lines are not without their challenges. While the cruise industry enjoys a 98 percent satisfaction rating from its customers, industry leaders say it's a constant battle to downplay high-profile incidents at sea, like viruses and terrorist threats.

Burke said there was a certain amount of "hurricane hesitancy" in 2006, but sales representatives were encouraged to point out that "cruise ships move and we're not going to take them anywhere near a hurricane."

Rood told the nearly 400 travel agents in attendance that they need to focus on the positive vacation values of cruises.

Will the cruise industry ever surpass Las Vegas in number of visitors?

Not likely.

But they're going to try, and the local resort industry better be ready to meet the challenge.

More friendship agreements: One of the last things Bruce Bommarito did as director of the Nevada Commission on Tourism was to nail down three more friendship agreements with Chinese provinces.

While many consider such documents as trivial, ceremonial documents, they carry much more weight in other countries. While there's nothing binding in the agreements, they signify a promise by those who sign them to work toward mutual tourism goals.

When Bommarito attended the International Travel Mart, the largest tourism trade show in Asia, he signed friendship agreements with the Shandong Provincial Tourism Administration on China's east coast, the home of Confucius; the Hubei Tourism Administration, an industrialized province in central China; and the Tourism Administration of Guangdong Province, the southern coastal region that is home to Hong Kong and Macau.

Those three agreements bring to seven the number of pacts Nevada has with Chinese organizations with the state already having fridneship agreements with groups in Beijing, Shanghai, Liaoning Province and the Lone Mountain-Jim Gong Mountain area in Hubei.

Bommarito left his Nevada post this week to take an executive position with the Washington-based Travel Industry Association where he'll be hammering out deals with China on behalf of that organization.

Bommarito's push to put Nevada in the driver's seat on tourism relations with China will be missed.

Skybus jets: Skybus, a new low-fare air carrier that plans to begin operations next spring, has announced a deal to buy 65 Airbus A319 jets with the first wave to be delivered in late 2008.

Skybus, based in Columbus, Ohio, has yet to announce what U.S. markets it intends to serve but considering Las Vegas is frequently atop most national airlines' lists, it's safe to say the city would be a good possibility.

A standard A319 carries about 125 passengers, but Skybus has yet to announce how it would configure its jets.

VEGAS.com abroad: Thanks to a partnership between VEGAS.com and US Airways, automated concierge systems that will sell show tickets, make restaurant reservations and tee times and offer front-of-the-line nightclub passes will be heading abroad.

VEGAS.com and Phoenix-based US Airways expanded an existing partnership between the companies that will enable VEGAS.com to place its kiosks in US Airways airport clubs.

The first concierge system was installed in the US Airways Club at Los Angeles International Airport. Launches are planned at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix and at London's Gatwick International Airport.

VEGAS.com is owned by the Greenspun family, which also owns In business Las Vegas.

Thailand for $11: Here's a deal that even Southwest Airlines can't top.

Viva Macau, a new low-cost air carrier that shuttles passengers to Macau from across Asia, is offering a promotion to sell tickets from Phuket, Thailand, with 10 percent of the tickets going for $88 in Hong Kong dollars, 10 percent going for $188, 10 percent for $288, etc.

In U.S. currency, $88HK is $11.32.

Viva Macau will take delivery of three or four Boeing 767 jets next year, expanding the airline's fleet to six.