A new survey reveals that fuel costs are causing Americans to stay close to home, one year after a pandemic did exactly the same.
There is no way that soaring gas prices can continue without travel plans being effected. Perhaps you are not yet canceling your plans but every increase of fuel costs knocks out a new group of people who were just above the margin. The margin is the group that was just at the edge of affording their trip, and that margin continues to rise higher and higher with each new price point for a gallon of gasoline.
But things are not all black-and-white. Instead of outright canceling trips, some Americans… perhaps most… are simply diminishing the distance they’re willing to travel. The degree to which that is happening is rather astounding.
Approximately 18.7% plan to take a road trip within 100 miles of their homes, while 21.35% plan to travel within 250 miles, 21.53% plan to travel within 500 miles, 11.59% plan to travel within 1,000 miles and just 6.75% plan to travel more than 1,000 miles.
— Erik Bascome, SiLive.com
To give you an idea of just how restrictive the travel is for this summer, when we’re talking about 500 miles, that’s basically the edge of Tennessee or North Carolina to Disney World. In other words, for everywhere besides New England, we’re looking at a summer in which the vast majority of Americans are not traveling past a bordering state. This is amazing information. Only about 18% of Americans plan to travel more than 500 miles this summer — less than one-in-five families. This is unlike anything we’ve seen in many decades, if ever since the modern idea of summer vacations became an American cultural phenomenon.
Even during the pandemic, people were more apt to travel than what we are currently seeing. Can you imagine that? A pandemic situation that shut down the world in large part had less of an effect on travel plans than record-high gas prices this year. It’s amazing this isn’t being covered more in the mainstream. Can you imagine how stressful this must be if you’re a tourism-dependent company, restaurant, destination or organization?
2021 “The Vacationer” Survey Results
What is remarkable, in a negative way, is that we’re not at the apex of gas prices just yet. Reports are that the average cost of a gallon of gas will reach six dollars nationally in August. So those travel plans we’re already gasping at are likely to restrict even more. I don’t mean to scare people or be over the top, but this truly is a massive story that is simply not being reported sufficient to the impact it is likely to have. Restaurants, hotels, destinations… they’re already beaten up like never before after the pandemic. For many of these companies, this is simply the KO punch after two years of blow after blow.
It’s sad that I’m not able to bring a happier story today, but we must report on the news as it is. In the comments below, let us know if you’ve downgraded your travel plans this summer due to gas prices. And keep reading That Park Place — we’re going to be doing a number of additional articles that examine short-distance vacations and how you can make the most out of an adventure on a smaller budget.
Remember, if gas prices have you down, this too shall pass. Somehow, someway, we’ll get through this together and hit the open road once more.
