Gasoline prices deal blow to Memorial Day travelers

By Jack Money

Published: May 16, 2008

Fewer Oklahomans and travelers across the nation are expected to travel 50 miles or more during the coming Memorial Day holiday, AAA Oklahoma announced Thursday.

The organization expects that 4,000 fewer state residents will make journeys of at least that length during the holiday, down from 525,000 a year ago.

Nationally, the number is expected to be down nearly 360,000, from the 38.23 million traveling a year ago.

Higher fuel prices are to blame.

"What we were seeing is that many people had been shortening their vacations because of higher gasoline prices,” said Chuck Mai, spokesman for AAA Oklahoma.

"But now, we are starting to see some people cancelling their plans.

"I expected it,” he said. "The only thing I am surprised about is that we didn't see a decline in travel before now.”

Recent surveys have shown increasing numbers of over-the-road travelers during typical holiday weekends.

"I think we have reached that point where finally, a lot of us are saying, OK, that is it,” Mai said. "This is the straw that is going to break this camel's back, so we are going to stay home.”

Across much of the country, motorists driving to their Memorial Day holiday destinations will once again encounter record gasoline prices. The national average for self-serve regular Thursday was nearly $3.78 a gallon. That is 39 cents more than one month ago and 68 cents more than this time last year.

Oklahoma's average on Thursday was about $3.67, up by 53 cents over prices a year ago.

The high gasoline prices aren't just impacting holiday travel plans. They also are impacting retirement plans, a local financial planner said.

Troy E. Jones, president of Access Financial Resources, said his clients are adjusting to high fuel prices. One couple, he said, had to sell their large motor home and buy a much smaller, affordable model.

"They struggled with it for quite some time as they worked on their financial plans,” Jones said. "They were really nervous about whether they could really continue to afford living at the level they were.”

Jones said the couple feared they would have to give up their plans to just motor around the country in their retirement. By going to a smaller model, though, they were able to save thousands of dollars a month and continue their traveling.

"I don't think we have even begun to see the real effect of these high gas prices, long-term,” Jones said.

Research for Memorial Day weekend holiday travel projections was done using the Travel Industry Association of America's holiday travel forecast model, based on consumer travel intentions and the association's quarterly travel forecast data.

The travel intentions data are collected through an online survey of more than 2,000 U.S. adults nationwide.

Historical travel volume and other economic data such as disposable income and employment as well as travel costs such as fuel prices also are built into the model, officials said.

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