Vacationers Keep Plans to Travel This Summer

A pain in the gas tank isn’t going to keep Marissa Chavez off the road this summer.

The 23-year-old Pasadena hairdresser is planning at least four driving getaways before Labor Day -- including one to Las Vegas and Lake Havasu this Memorial Day weekend, the traditional kickoff of the summer travel season.

But Chavez’s gas-sipping Mini Cooper will stay at home while she and her friends hit the highway in a sport utility vehicle rented from Enterprise Rent-A-Car. She doesn’t mind spending the extra money. It makes her mini-vacations feel special.

“It’s just exciting to travel and feel that whole summer vibe,” Chavez said. “The cost of gas is worth me and my friends having our own safe transportation.”

Chavez and her friends may find the freeways a bit crowded. Despite gas prices that are up more than 30% from a year ago, about 2.4 million Southern Californians are expected to hit the road this Memorial Day weekend, a 2.7% increase over last year, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California.

That mirrors what is expected to be a national trend. About 31 million Americans are expected to drive at least 50 miles to holiday getaways this weekend, topping last year’s 30 million and fueling travel industry hopes for its hottest summer since 2000.

“This could be the best year in recent memory,” said Cathy Keefe, a spokeswoman for the Travel Industry Assn. of America.

A strengthening economy -- particularly rising incomes and an improving job picture -- are helping the travel industry rebound from a slump that dates to the 2001 recession and the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

In addition to a projected increase in road trips, industry officials are forecasting a jump in air travel, and cruise ship companies and theme park operators likewise are hoping for a strong summer.

“We’ve had a lot of pent-up demand for travel that’s now being unleashed.” said Marie Montgomery, a spokeswoman for the Auto Club.

Still, there are concerns that high gas prices -- especially if they continue to rise through the summer -- eventually could cause some vacationers to put their travel plans in neutral. For instance, the telephone survey that underpins the Auto Club’s travel estimates was conducted in early May. Gas prices have climbed steadily since then, hitting a record average of $2.367 a gallon in California on Friday. A year ago they were at $ 1.792.

“There is some worry about the gas prices,” said Carl Winston, director of the hospitality and tourism management program at San Diego State University.

But, he adds, “these recent gas hikes aren’t going to make people change their vacation plans.”

Indeed, the increase in gas prices over the last year adds only about $20 to $30 to a typical car trip, the Auto Club said.

“That’s not a huge difference,” Montgomery said. “People can take care of that by eating more cheaply or staying at a Motel 6.”

Operators at some vacation destinations are taking steps to blunt the effect of rising pump prices.

Lake Powell Resorts & Marinas in Arizona, for instance, is offering a $200 credit on houseboat rentals to help offset the higher cost of driving to the lake, which is about 600 miles from Los Angeles.

“The gas credit takes some of the sting out of the recent price hikes,” said Mike Yancey of Valencia. He’s driving to Lake Powell with his wife and two sons in the family SUV, a trip that will cost $120 each way just in gas.

“We planned this months ago,” he said, “and the extra cost is not going to make us cancel.”

Even the market for recreational vehicles is expected to be strong this summer, said Jim Laing, spokesman for El Monte RV, which operates 40 RV rental stores nationwide.

Rising gas prices could eventually damp demand, he said, but as the holiday approached, the Santa Fe Springs-based company’s 10 Southern California RV rental stores were nearly sold out for the weekend.

“We worry about gas prices all the time,” Laing said.

Still, he said, “there is such a demand for RVs right now, it is overwhelming any difference” in gasoline prices.

Considering that big RVs get about 8 to 10 miles to the gallon, one might ask where the threshold of pain might be for vacationers who crave the open road.

Experts have noted that, adjusted for inflation, U.S. gasoline prices are still well below the levels of the early 1980s. On that basis, current pump prices would have to approach $3 a gallon to match the heights of two decades ago.

That sounds about right to Linda Profaizer, president of the National Assn. of RV Parks & Campgrounds, who believes that rising gas prices eventually will force travelers to go shorter distances in their RVs to save money.

“If it gets up to $3 a gallon,” she said, “that’s when we will really see an impact.”

Given how tight gasoline supplies are right now -- especially in California -- some experts say motorists could be paying $3 for a gallon of self-serve regular before summer’s end.

What could put the brakes on the summer driving season is the return of 1970s-style gas lines, said Winston of San Diego State.

Barring a serious supply disruption -- an oil embargo, for instance, or a major refinery outage -- that’s unlikely. But, Winston warns, “the thing that will kill this travel recovery is a gas shortage.”