US firm Far & Wide (www.farandwide.com), a holding company for 21 well-known tour operators, went bankrupt and shut down several of its subsidiaries. They blame their closure on the TwinTowers, then two wars, the SARS crisis, and a national economy that has been throwing more and more people out of work.

A recent World Values Survey on the levels of happiness in more than 65 countries shows Nigeria has the highest percentage of happy people followed by Mexico, Venezuela, El Salvador and Puerto Rico.

Russia, Armenia and Romania have the fewest. “New Zealand ranked 15 for overall satisfaction, the U.S. 16th, Australia 20th and Britain 24th — though Australia beats the other three for day-to-day happiness,” said New Scientist magazine, which published the results.

New Scientist says that factors that make people happy vary: personal success, self-expression, pride, and a high sense of self-esteem are important in the United States. In Japan, on the other hand, happiness comes from fulfilling the expectations of your family, meeting your social responsibilities, self-discipline, cooperation and friendliness.