Optimism High for Western Tourism

Jerry Claridge shook his head in disbelief as he pumped gas into the car he considered selling back in Texas.

This, he said, will probably be the last road trip for a while.

“We usually try to get 500 to 1,000 miles away a couple of times,” said Claridge, who was heading back to Spokane, Wash., after picking up his son in Texas.

“There might be one this summer, but we’ll be looking at sites closer to home.”

Montana and Wyoming tourism officials suspect that there are others who will explore closer to home because of high gasoline prices.

“I think we’re going to have to look to the day-drive people to fill in whatever gaps our longer-drive markets are not able to fill this year,” said Laurie Green, Wyoming’s travel and tourism director.

Still, the officials are cautiously optimistic about a near-normal visitation this summer, even considering the economy and wildfire potential.

“People like to travel in this country. The gas price is one factor in their traveling,” said Mary Boyle with Travel Montana, the state’s tourism division. “Especially if they’ve been planning the trip for a while, they’ll do it.”

Wyoming plans an advertising campaign for its “drive market”--where people are within a day’s drive of the state. Officials with some Western national parks, which look to automobile traffic and are removed from big cities, tout their overall affordability for families.

“The reality is, we’re within a two-hour drive of 2 million people,” said Peter Allen, spokesman with Rocky Mountain National Park near Estes Park, Colo. “That says to me, rather than having any sort of concern, we should anticipate a busy summer.”

There are positive early indicators.

Officials say reservations have been steady at Glacier and Grand Teton national parks. There have been more visitors to Yellowstone so far this year than last, and officials expect typical annual visitation at Crater Lake National Park in Oregon and Great Basin National Park in Nevada.

Requests for visitor information for Montana, South Dakota and Wyoming have been high.

Advance reservations were slightly behind last year, but travelers could be waiting longer to make plans, said James McCaleb, Amfac Parks & Resorts’ general manager for Yellowstone National Park Lodges. California, he said, is a big market.

“I’m optimistic about a good year. Not a record year,” McCaleb said.

As of mid-May, the average price of regular unleaded gasoline topped $2 a gallon in California, according to AAA. Average prices in the West at that time ranged from $1.59 in Utah to $1.80 in Colorado.

An annual survey by AAA projected a slight increase over last year in the number of Americans planning to travel 50 miles or more from home over the Memorial Day holiday.

“If gas prices remain high, and they will be high even if they go lower, that won’t stop people from traveling overall,” said Jerry Cheske, a spokesman for the group.

“They’ll do what they’ve done in previous times of high gas prices--conserve but not necessarily cancel,” he said.

To save on gas, Jeff McCoy, who left from Michigan State University, took a car for the trip to California instead of his friend’s sport utility vehicle.

“No matter what the prices, we’re still going to stick to our plans,” said McCoy, who camped recently in Yellowstone National Park.

Bud Elliott of Tetonia, Idaho, isn’t giving up his travel plans either. He and his wife, camping in Yellowstone, recently traveled cross-country, all the while shopping for the cheapest gas for their camper van.

“We run on empty a lot,” Elliott said.