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Travel experts say two years of pent-up demand from the pandemic will spur an increase in summer trips even as gas prices and hotel rates rise.
In Maryland, an automatic increase in the gas tax will send prices even higher starting July 1, adding 6.6 cents per gallon. The tax, which is tied to inflation and collected at the wholesale level, will increase from 36.
1 cents per gallon to 42.7 cents. Democrats who lead the state’s General Assembly did not support a special session to stave off the increase or offer another temporary gas tax holiday, saying such efforts offer marginal relief for motorists while starving the state of money needed for roads, transit and bridges.In Virginia, Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s plans to suspend a scheduled increase in the 26.2 cents-per-gallon gas tax and to suspend the tax altogether for three months have stalled in protracted budget negotiations between the Republican-led House and the Democratic-controlled Senate. The General Assembly returns to Richmond on Wednesday to vote on a compromise budget bill — too late for Memorial Day motorists.The cost of filling up is playing into tourism pitches. Jessica Waters, a spokeswoman for Ocean City, touted the Maryland beach town’s proximity — “less than a tank away” — from millions of residents in D.C., Baltimore and Philadelphia. “Gas prices are higher, but a trip to Ocean City is still much cheaper than traveling to most other beach destinations,” Waters said. “It’s certainly cheaper than airfare.”Even so, airlines say they are expecting big crowds. Bookings are up 3 percent compared with the same period in May 2019, but air travelers are spending 24 percent more, according to data collected by Adobe Analytics that is used by companies in the travel industry. United Airlines said this Memorial Day weekend will be one of its busiest this year. The carrier said it expected 2.6 million people to fly between Thursday and Tuesday — a 50 percent increase over last year and roughly 90 percent of the number who flew during the Memorial Day travel period in 2019.Delta Air Lines said it will carry roughly 2.5 million customers over the weekend, a 25 percent increase. Even so, the carrier on Thursday announced reductions to its summer schedule, saying it would cut roughly 100 flights per day between July 1 and Aug. 7.United, Delta and several other U.S. carriers are still grappling with staffing shortages as they scramble to replace the estimated 50,000 workers who left the industry during the pandemic. As a result, despite greater demand, many carriers are flying pared-down schedules as they try to avoid the kind of delays and cancellations that upended the plans of tens and thousands of travelers last summer and fall. Those dynamics — fewer flights combined with higher demand — are pushing up ticket prices, putting flights out of reach for some.Los Angeles resident Ellie Romero, 25, who works in communications, said she had been saving for a trip to Atlanta this summer to visit family she hasn’t seen since the pandemic started. When she checked in March, round trip airfare cost about $300. By the time she was ready to buy a ticket in late April, she said, she was stunned to discover the lowest fare had nearly tripled.Travel experts say history shows that gas price spikes, such as during the Great Recession and after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, often shorten — but don’t stop — the great American road trip. In a recent study, Eylon’s firm found that almost 60 percent of those surveyed said rising gas prices would “impact” or “greatly impact” their travel plans in the next six months, including by taking fewer or shorter trips. Only 6 percent said they were canceling travel plans — slightly above the 5 percent cancellation rate typical for family emergencies, work demands and other problems, he said. “They’re going to keep traveling,” he said. “They’re just going to find ways to reduce their spending to reallocate their travel budget.”Larry Roessner, 70, of Myrtle Beach, S.C., laughed in apparent disbelief when asked how much it cost to fill his RV as he and his wife, Darleen, 66, headed to the Atlantic City area. He paid $159 at the Shell station in Stevensville on Thursday, even though he started with the tank partially full. Roessner estimated gas for the two-day drive would total $600 to $700 — far more than last year but probably less than he might lose at a craps table in Atlantic City. “I’m retired,” Roessner said. “What else am I going to do? … We’re going to go have fun and not worry about it.”Meggan Wagner, 40, who is unemployed, said she usually travels several times every summer from her home in southern Iowa to Wisconsin. But this year, she said, she’ll pass on the nine-hour drive. “Not only are the gas prices going up, food is going up, too, which makes it twice as bad,” Wagner said. “You either choose to go somewhere or you choose to eat, and this year I’m kind of cutting back.”
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