|
|
| |
| Fri, Nov. 21, 2008 |  |
 |
|
||
| |
Holiday weekend travel to decline slightly, travelers going shorter distances Friday, May 23, 2008 By Jason Wiest Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - Record high prices may slow vacation travel among Arkansans this Memorial Day weekend, but barely. A national survey of 2,000 people conducted by AAA found the number of Americans taking trips longer than 50 miles over the three-day weekend will fall about 0.9 percent compared to last year. Arkansas state parks traditionally are crowded on Memorial Day weekend, and in recent years as gas prices have increased a larger percentage of the visitors are from Arkansas rather than out-of-state, said Joe Jacobs, Arkansas' marketing and revenue director of state parks. "We always fill up on Memorial Day. If we could have twice as many campsites, we'd fill those too," Jacobs said. But with average gas prices possibly approaching $4 a gallon this summer, state travel officials expect a good year overall for in-state attractions. "State parks look pretty good to a lot of people locally," Jacobs said. Travel experts say although a 1 percent decline in holiday travelers nationally might not seem like a big affect, high gas prices and poor economic conditions are indeed affecting the industry in meaningful ways. "At this point, gas prices are shortening trips, so that could be construed as substantial, but Americans love their road trips, so it is difficult to predict when substantial will come," said Carol White, spokeswoman for the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association. "I think it will be more incremental." If estimates prove correct, it will be the first decrease in Memorial Day travel since 2002, which saw a travel slowdown in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Normally, Memorial Day weekend travel grows roughly 2 percent yearly, according to AAA spokesman Mike Right. In Arkansas, the average price of a gallon of regular gas was $3.71 Thursday, according to the AAA, about $1 more than the $2.87 average price a year ago. Prices rose 4 cents in the week leading up to the holiday weekend, partly because of a government report that crude oil and gasoline supplies unexpectedly fell last week. Analysts say only a serious decrease in demand, increase in oil supplies or rise in gasoline output by U.S. refiners could stop runaway fuel prices. Spring usually is when peak prices occur, Right said Thursday, noting the U.S. Department of Energy's projection of a $3.73 national average by June. However, it's just as likely that prices could continue rise, he said. "That's certainly possible given what's going on right now," Right said. "Every time we start to see the possibility that crude oil is going to start to level off or fall, the next day it sets a new record." Light, sweet crude topped $135 a barrel for the first time Thursday before falling back to $130.69. Nationally, soaring gas prices and tough economic times are expected to force many Americans to either stay home, travel a shorter distance or economize in other ways. Still, 37.9 million Americans, 6.8 million of them from the Southeast are expected to make trips longer than 50 miles, leaving some wondering where travelers will draw the line. "I'm rather surprised," that travel won't decline further, said Richard Keel, who until just weeks ago owned Fenny's Convenient Store in Fort Smith. Keel said he does not know anymore what price level it will take to substantially affect travel. The 66-year-old suggested the "spoiled" younger generation would rather keep driving and give up other items. A Nielsen study found that at recent gas prices, 41 percent of consumers were eating out less. "I just think they haven't gotten used to the high price (of gas) yet," Keel said. "As their credit card bills come in the next couple of months, then it will hit the fan." Rand McNally's annual Great American Road Trip Survey estimates that two in three U.S. adults who plan to take a road trip this summer have changed their travel plans because of rising gas prices. About three in five now plan to take a trip for a shorter amount of time and-or distance. "People will continue to take vacations, I think, regardless of gasoline costs," AAA's Right said. "There will be fewer of them though, and people will be looking to economize." |
