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Honoring tradition in troubled times
Less pain at the pump
Presumably, some would-be fliers will take to the road instead, especially given the recent and stunning drop in gas prices. With regular averaging $2.20 per gallon nationwide last week — approximately half of what it was during the summer — the prospect of filling the tank has suddenly become a lot less daunting.
Part of it is a sort of gas-pump amnesia. “People aren’t thinking back to five years ago when gas was a buck and a half,” says travel-trend analyst Doug Shifflet of D.K. Shifflet & Associates. “But if it comes down to $2 a gallon, they’re going to start feeling pretty good about it.”
That, in turn, is prompting many travelers to compare the costs of flying vs. driving with renewed interest. Says Seaney, “People are pulling out their calculators and figuring out how airfare with all the add-on fees compares to driving four or five hours with gas at $2.20 a gallon. For a family of five, there’s certainly a compelling argument for driving — especially on short-haul flights.”
In fact, there are already indications that people are, indeed, driving more. According to Carl Richardson, director of auto travel for AAA Southern New England (AAASNE), bookings for the company’s Drive Vacations product — hotel deals within a 500-mile car trip from Boston or Providence — were 11 percent higher in October compared to the year before. “Gross sales are up, reservations are up and room nights are up,” he says. “We’re thrilled with that.”
At the same time, falling gas prices effectively put more money in people’s pockets. “The average consumer is now spending at least 30 percent less to fill their tank,” says Mary Maguire, AAASNE’s director of public and legislative affairs. “They’re saving 20, 30, even 40 dollars a tank in some cases, so the trip to Grandma’s is going to be a lot more affordable.”
From troubled times to family time
Ultimately, this Thanksgiving is shaping up to be a glass-half-full/glass-half-empty sort of holiday for travelers. As suggested above, many people are trading down, but not out, and adjusting their plans in light of job losses, declining home values and a stumbling economy. “People are saying life is uncertain; therefore, it’s a good time to get together with friends and relatives,” says Shifflet. “Instead of flying from Washington, D.C., to visit Mom in California, they may choose to go to their kid’s place in the next county.”
Likewise, says Maguire, falling gas prices will likely make it more palatable for more people to hit the road: “Across the nation, we’re looking at around $125 billion that’s now available to the economy that was being put in people’s gas tanks over the last few months.”
The big question, she says, is how and where that money will find its way into the economy. “I think there’s no doubt that some of that freed-up cash will be used for travel,” she says. “There are certain things that are a birthright or time-honored tradition, and this is one of those times that people tend to honor them.”
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