Marriott International, Inc. (MAR) hit a new 52-week high of $42.78 during the intraday session. At the specific time of this writing, the shares were trading at a little lower quote of $41.43, good for a gain of 1%. Strong volume backed the move.

The one-year chart looks appealing. The stock has risen a very significant distance from its 52-week low of $26.52. Is it time to place the hotel entity into a long-term portfolio?

Hotel operator Marriott International (MAR) reported numbers for the second-quarter after the bell on Wednesday. Although the company did well, I'm still not sure I want to buy the stock.

The one-year chart isn't all that bad, considering. Like many equities, the business saw its shares rebound over the last twelve months. In this instance, they went from the 52-week low of $19.63 all the way up to the 52-week high of $38.15. And then, volatility hit like a monster, knocking the stock back down. Wednesday, the shares ended up at a price of $32.16. Still, they're closer to the 52-week high than they are to the 52-week low.

The hotel market may be straining in the United States and Europe under the weight of new capacity financed during the real estate boom, but the situation is much different in Latin America.

According to travel industry research firm PhoCusWright, international, regional and independent hotels are popping up all over the continent, with both large and small projects in the works to tap into growing demand in the region. In the cities, where it's tough to find real estate, old neighborhoods are "reinventing themselves," PhoCusWright reports, in order to take advantage of the market's potential.

Timeshares, that wonderful relic from the 1970s, are about as popular as disco and excessive chest hair this year. Thanks to the recession, timeshare sales are forecasted to suffer their worst fall since this vacation option came on the scene more than 30 years ago. The plunge could reach 30 percent, according to Howard Nusbaum, president and CEO of the American Resort Development Association, a trade group, and the next year and a half could be tough, as well.

In the United States, timeshare sales fell 8.5% last year to $9.7 billion. They reached their peak the year before, when sales hit $10.6 billion, according to a study by Ernst & Young. The 2008 decline was the first sustained by the industry since it started keeping score in 1975.

How can exports not rebound? Last year ended on a sour note after posting record results, and 2009 is by all accounts likely to be ugly. The tourism and travel industry is expected to shed more than 200,000 jobs this year. Fortunately, there's a light at the end of the tunnel. The U.S. Department of Commerce expects international visits to the United States to come back in 2010 – after its first forecasted year of decline (i.e., 2009) since 2003.

This year, international travel to the United States is expected to fall 8%. The following year, however, U.S. travel exports are expected to gain 5%, with 5% annual increases through the end of 2013. We'll come out ahead in all this, but it's going to take some time.

Will the influx of foreign visitors over the next four years be enough to turn the travel industry in the United States around? It's too soon to tell right now, and much will depend on the contributions made by domestic routes. Needless to say, even this glimmer of hope must be welcome to investors committed to the airline and hotel sectors.