Yuck.
There’s plenty of bad news out there in the world and I don’t enjoy adding to it. Looking at the articles we have up there today, you’d think everything is absolutely falling apart in entertainment. That’s not true but there definitely is plenty going wrong that needs to be discussed. Unfortunately, I need to talk about one of those things a little more. It’s important, so we need to make sure you’re aware.
It really is time to start worrying about summer vacations and the industries built around it.
Beyond just the fears that some have about a return to rioting in the United States this summer (and what a sad thing it is that we have to expect that now), gas prices have now hit an all-time record. We’re not even to Memorial Day Weekend yet. And with every increase at the pump, that’s one more family that was on the edge of affordability when it comes to a vacation who just had to cancel. They may look like just numbers but they’re more than that.
Gasoline prices hit a new record on Tuesday just as Americans are entering peak summer driving season. The national average price for a gallon of gas hit $4.37, according to AAA, eclipsing a previous record set in early March.
The largest increases are coming in Michigan, New Jersey, Connecticut, Kentucky and Indiana, according to AAA. In dollar terms, the priciest states for gas are in the West: California, Hawaii, Alaska, Nevada and Oregon have the most expensive gasoline, with California’s gas averaging $5.82 per gallon.
— CBS News
At the same time that gas is soaring to all-time highs, news articles are out there trying to downplay another horrible inflation report. Though down by 0.2% month-to-month, inflation is still running at 8.3% for April… higher than analysts had expected. There are worse numbers when you dive into the ever day costs average families are incurring. That number may be running higher than 11%. All of that is to say, families on the margins could be getting squeezed out of vacations for this summer. Or they may be downgrading their summers. When that happens, and it is happening, it’s not just the families that get hurt. It’s also the people and businesses who service summer vacations. Not everyone can be a Disney which is being propelled at Disney World by international guests hurrying to get in a vacation after years of blocked travel plans. The mom and pop restaurants on the Gulf Coast or on Route 66 are not so fortunate.
You can click on the Travel category for articles here at That Park Place and see we’ve been covering this for many months now. But we are reaching a tipping point where we could see businesses that were already stressed to the maximum by the pandemic finally shuttering. We need a strong summer of travel and leisure to save some of these businesses but record fuel costs and forty-year inflation spikes could be the final blow.
8.5% inflation means you’re working ~4.5 weeks more to earn the same purchasing power
inflation is like inverse vacation
— Jeet Sidhu (@jeetsidhu_) April 12, 2022
It’s truly a shame. We need to do everything we can to help those who are being harmed the most by economic woes. When you consider stock and crypto drops, plus inflation, American families are facing a 40% drop in market power. When that happens, whether other news sources want to report it or not, it’s the optional costs that get dropped first. It could be a very hard time for vacation destinations this Summer 2022. The only silver lining is that some of these vacations are already locked in. If things don’t change soon, things get very grim after July.
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