|
How do you make your summer getaway when there's no escaping high gas prices? w/MAP
(Beaumont Enterprise, The (Texas) (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) May 18--Jessica Burkhead's family had planned on making a trip to Disney World this summer.
But as gas prices started skyrocketing this year, the family of the Port Neches dental assistant realized they would have to rely on memories from their road trip last year to Florida.
"If we go (on vacation), it will be somewhere around here," she said.
They aren't alone.
As the cost of getting from home to the favorite vacation spot goes up, it's reflected in how people travel. "They are still going to travel," said David Teel, vice president of planning for the Texas Traveling Industry Association. "People are staying close to home."
That and their trips are typically shorter, too, he added.
Higher gas prices around the advent of summer seem to be a common trend the last few years, Teel said.
In the upcoming Memorial Day weekend, AAA predicts that 360,000 fewer people will be hitting the road, taking a plane or traveling by rail for the unofficial start of summer.
The automotive group estimates that 37.87 million people will travel 50 miles or more, down 0.9 percent from last year's 38.23 million.
Almost 32 million Americans will take to the road in their cars or other vehicles this Memorial Day, a 1 percent decrease from 2007, according to the AAA forecast. More than 4 million are expected to fly, down 0.5 percent from last year.
While those numbers might be declining, people are turning to other means of travel.
Paula Sadler of C&R Travel World said she has seen more people booking cruises that leave from Galveston this summer, which run from $400 to $900 a person.
These are people who generally haven't booked cruises, she added.
"Money is tight," Sadler said.
The most common comment Pam Gilbeau of Cruises Inc. said she has heard is that people are waiting on their federal economic stimulus payment before making travel plans.
Anne Willis, Bolivar Peninsula Chamber of Commerce president, said that as gas prices go up, people come to the peninsula.
"I've always found that higher gas prices always helped us down here," Willis said.
Willis said most of the peninsula-goers come from around Southeast Texas.
Richard Bothel, a Lamar University administrator who also is with the Southeast Texas Canoe and Kayak Group, said Southeast Texas is brimming with vacation possibilities.
"They don't know what is all here," Bothel said of local residents.
The group's kayaking trips, which started about five years ago, has groups from about a half dozen people to nearly 200, he added.
Debbie Arthur Hernandez of Port Arthur said her family was planning to head to Florida beaches.
"Now, we'll stay closer to here," she said.
Jennifer Sweetenham, 27, a nurse, said if she wasn't getting married in Cabo, she wouldn't be going anywhere this summer.
"It's hard enough to come home," she said of traveling between Port Neches and Victoria, where she works.
She's tried selling her Nissan Xterra for something with better gas mileage, but it hasn't worked out yet.
One Southeast Texas spot likely won't see many vacationers.
Personnel at Sea Rim State Park, which still hasn't opened since Hurricane Rita shut it down more than two years ago, have been getting calls asking if the park has reopened, said Christina McNiel, administrative assistant.
"If we were open, we would be packed," she said.
The park is expected to open by midsummer when repairs to the sewer system are finished, she added.
To see more of The Beaumont Enterprise, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.www.beaumontenterprise.com/.
Copyright (c) 2008, The Beaumont Enterprise, Texas
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
|
Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference and EXPO West, September 16-18, 2008. Los Angeles, California.
