Over a
third of Americans are changing their summer travel plans due to skyrocketing gasoline costs, says a USA Today/Gallup telephone poll of 1, 017 adults across the nation.
While roughly one-fifth (21 percent) of poll respondents plan to stick to their plans, 36 percent claim that they are either
cancelling excursions, changing their destinations, or cutting back on the number of trips they had planned to take.
With more than half of Americans
having made plans to travel this summer (57 percent) and the majority of that number planning to cancel trips, this could
mean problems for the travel, camping and hospitality industries, says USA Today
analysis. For instance, says the report, which analyzed federal data, more people this year are camping closer to home, rather
than out-of-state.
These latest poll results
demonstrate a continuing downward trend in summer travel, with the latest gas price hikes resulting in what Gallup
calls a “somewhat more draconian” response by the public than previously measured. Results from Gallup’s June 2006 report indicate that rather than cancel trips altogether, those
changing plans were more likely to cut back on the number they would take (37 percent). Today, that same number of respondents
would prefer to call off planned excursions completely (37 percent). However, nearly a quarter of 2006 respondents who were
altering their plans were more likely to choose a closer destination (23 percent), roughly the same number as travelers today
who choose to do so (24 percent).
Does this really mean most
Americans will stay put or close to home all summer? Not necessarily. “No, it hasn’t impacted my choice on whether
to travel or not, but with the enormous price of gas, it has almost become equally affordable to fly,” says Eileen,
39, a Staten Island wife and mother of two.
For her, as for many travelers,
summertime is for seeing family who live out-of-state. “In our case, we travel to Florida,
and now it costs almost $400 to $500 to fill the car on a round trip, with no traffic. That’s just to travel from state
to state—that doesn’t include driving while you are there. And then you have the cost of overnight stays,”
she explains.
“Now it has become
equally affordable to fly as it would be to drive, because of the high gas prices. The cost is equal to one or two plane tickets,
at this point,” Eileen adds.
