Consumers clearly know that prices in general, and travel prices in particular, are rising. In fact, the majority of intended summer travelers expect travel prices (such as those for transportation, lodging, food and entertainment) to be higher this summer. And a significant one-third (34%) expect travel prices to be much higher compared to last summer, according to a special Travel Poll conducted by the Travel Industry Association of America (TIA). Results are based on a representative sample survey of 1,000 U.S. adults who traveled in the past year.
“Higher travel prices will keep some Americans at home or force them to reduce their travel this summer,” remarked Dr. Suzanne Cook, senior vice president of research for the Travel Industry Association of America. “But most travelers, as they have done in the past, are prepared to make the best of it and to once again modify their behavior.”
Two in five (40%) of those planning leisure trips this summer say that higher prices will affect their plans. More than one-quarter (27%) of them are resigned to the fact, saying that they will just have to spend more for their trip on travel services and products. However, 17 percent plan to reduce spending, especially on lodging, shopping and dining out. A similar 17 percent plan to take shorter duration trips, 14 percent expect to travel closer to home and 13 percent say they will take fewer trips this summer. Only 3 percent say they might cancel their planned summer leisure trips because of higher travel prices.
More: hospitality-1st.com
Related Travel Information
The sun is shining, it’s a three-day weekend and there’s a hint of summer in the air. It’s just enough to overlook that $2.30 per gallon at the pump.
Despite enduring some of the highest gas prices in the nation, it seems there’s more concern about the forecast for the Memorial Day holiday.
“Weather has effected Utah travel more than anything this year,” said Lori Pendle, a spokeswoman for the St. George Travel Council. “It’s been an interesting year with so much flooding, but I don’t think gas prices will keep people home.”
Rain or shine, AAA reports over 330,000 Utahns plan to
The price of gasoline might be a conversation topic and a fixture of news reports, but experts say it has little bearing on the reality of travel.
Whatever the chatter, Americans are driving more. Gasoline production has been rising 1.7 percent a year since 1990, and prices have been rising 0.9 percent per year after adjusting for inflation.
Gasoline prices have been a non-factor in household travel planning, according to the travel association, tire manufacturers and most anyone else trying to make money based on how many miles people drive.
The price of gas is higher than last summer’s $1.92 per gallon. But
High prices at the gas pump might cause Del Schwaller of Appleton to forgo a few trips around town, but it won’t stop his annual months-long fishing trip out West.
“I’ll be going to Montana, as usual,” he said.
At the age of 80, he said, he doesn’t worry as much about the budget as he might have years ago.
“I ride my bike around town, and the gas is one consideration, but health is probably the biggest reason,” he said.
State tourism experts predict plenty of other travelers of all ages will join him on the roads this summer, despite high gas prices.
The
Once upon a time a rocker named Eddie Cochran sang, "There ain't no cure for the summertime blues." Clearly, he wasn't talking about travel, because even though air fares and hotel costs are rising and the price of gasoline is high, there are ways to save on summer travel. Here, with input from discount travel site Hotwire.com, are a few ways to cure the summertime travel blues:
Find the road less traveled: Visit places off-season, such as big cities, or destinations most popular in cooler weather. Summer scenery is stunning in mountain towns such as Lake Tahoe, Calif.; Vail and Breckinridge,
Procrastinators beware: the summer travel booking season kicks in six months before the fact, and often enough he who hesitates gets the middle seat. So now that the snow and ice has been melted a good couple weeks, the first flowers are blooming, and the ski season is almost over, it must be time to think about travel in July.
A constellation of factors will conspire to make this one of the trickiest summers to get good deals and avoid crowds in some time:
* pent-up demand
* high fuel costs
* weak dollar
Pent-Up Demand: They're Going Anyway
I could make a case that
