Travelers Going Ahead Despite High Fuel Costs

For California’s $82-billion tourism industry, it’s all about the gas this summer.

This Memorial Day weekend, a record number of Southern Californians are hitting the road for the traditional kickoff of the summer vacation season, swallowing gasoline prices that are nearly a dollar a gallon more than at this time last year.

But the travel increase from a year earlier is marginal, which has the industry scrambling to ease vacationers’ pain at the pump with gas giveaways and discounts. A gas receipt at Six Flags Magic Mountain, for example, will drop $15 off the price of admission.

“We’re going to have a mixed bag this summer,” said Cathy Keefe, spokeswoman for the Travel Industry Assn. “Consumer confidence seems to be faltering as is consumer spending. The good news is that we are sustaining the record level of summer tourism that we’ve seen in the past.”

In the Southland, 3.09 million travelers are expected to take trips by car and airplane and whatnot during the holiday weekend, a mere 0.3% increase over last year, said Marie Montgomery of the Automobile Club of Southern California.

Nationwide this summer, Americans are expected to take an estimated 325.6 million trips, up nearly 1% from last summer, with more people traveling late in the season as they adjust to higher gas costs, Keefe said.

Despite a modest drop in the last week, average city gas prices are hovering between $3.20 and $3.50 a gallon around California, where fuel is more expensive than in any other state except Hawaii. Last year at this time, gas was about 92 cents cheaper per gallon in the Los Angeles area, according to AAA figures.

Gas prices into the “stratosphere” aren’t enough to force travelers to cancel trips, Montgomery said.

“We have found time and time again -- whether it’s 9/11, the war, the thought of another terrorist attack -- people don’t stop traveling,” Keefe said. “They modify how they travel. People think of a vacation as a birthright.”

Los Angeles schoolteacher John Liddle still plans to take a summer trip, although he’s not repeating last year’s vacation to Europe. This summer, he’ll be camping in Yosemite.

“I’m in denial,” Liddle, 50, said of gasoline’s financial toll. “I know I’m going to be spending $400 more a year than before, and I haven’t budgeted for that.”

Industry officials say they are seeing a change in travel patterns, perhaps to offset the gas money that may be eating into budgets. Vacations are averaging six nights, instead of seven. Travelers are taking less expensive trips and staying closer to home.

“They economize that way,” Montgomery said. “It will probably be good for Disneyland.”

Keefe agreed. “They’re just kind of sucking it up.”

Silvia Viramontes, 50, said she has cut back on monthly trips from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara to visit friends.

And the weeklong vacation she was planning to take to San Francisco this summer? That’s off.

“Probably I’ll go to San Diego,” she said. “It’s not that far.”

Hoteliers and attraction operators are doing their part by rolling out gas vouchers and credits to lure travelers.

In Big Bear, visitors who stay at any of several participating lodges will receive a $25 gas card. And in San Luis Obispo County, nearly two dozen hotels and attractions are offering “Getaway Gas Deals,” some as much as $50, or 10 cents for every mile traveled from house to hotel.

“Something like 84% of our visitors travel by car,” said Jonni Biaggini, executive director of the San Luis Obispo County Conference and Visitors Bureau.

For Angelenos, it’s a farther hike than Santa Barbara, but Biaggini said the gas deals were a way to encourage people to come.

“Everything is a little bit less expensive here” than in Santa Barbara, she said. “People have to drive a little further, but these ‘gas getaways’ are an incentive to do that.”

Even upscale resorts are getting in on the act. In San Diego, Loews Coronado Bay Resort & Spa, whose rooms average $309 a night, is offering a “Receipt for Relief” package. For $350, visitors stay one night with complimentary self-parking and gas credits for as much as $50 off their hotel bill. They’ll also be given a list of the least expensive gas stations in the area.

“What they’re doing is very, very smart,” Keefe said. “Somebody that’s going to vacation at Loews, do they need a $50 rebate? Probably not.... There’s things like this all over the country. It’s a feel-good measure. It makes travelers happy.”