Hitting the ROAD
Michiganders still traveling, but increased costs force change of plans
Michiganders are determined to hit the road and visit their favorite destinations this summer even if they stay a little closer to home and spend a little less money.
Even with consumer prices at 40-year highs there is still pent-up demand to travel.
David Lorenz, vice president of Travel Michigan, expects higher costs to influence travel behaviors this summer.
“Even with all these additional costs, we expect and we know that people will continue to do their trips, but that they are just likely to stay closer to home,” he said. “All these inflationary costs are chipping away at that discretionary income and taking away dollars that Michiganders may have put away for vacations.”
Lorenz said Pure Michigan, the state’s flagship tourism advertising campaign, will only be marketed in the Great Lakes region this year.
“People will be traveling this year, but the trips will be fewer miles,” he said. It’s going to be harder for us to lure people from Dallas, Atlanta, and from other places around the country that have had Pure Michigan on their travel list for quite some time.”
Although people have less money to spend on travel, Lorenz believes that for most people travel is no longer a luxury but needed to bolster mental health.
In May, only a third of American travelers felt COVID-19 would have a meaningful impact on their travel experiences, and fewer than one-in-five recent travelers felt pandemic anxiety on their last trip, according to research conducted by destinationanalysts.com.
“We need it for health,” Lorenz said. “We need to get away from home. We need to get away from what is our normal and get to a
place where we see it as something different, fun, interesting, exciting, relaxing, and reconnecting. People are going to continue to travel and spend to the extent that they can, but they’ll change the way they’re going to spend on their travel occasion.”
In November 2021, the most recent data available from the U.S. Department of Transportation, 21% of Michiganders stayed at home each day. That’s compared to 29.3% in November 2020.
In Macomb, Oakland, and Wayne counties, between 29% and 33% of residents stayed at home each day during November 2020. Those numbers decreased to between 21% and 23%. For Isabella and Gratiot counties, in mid-Michigan, the percentages decreased from 23% to 26% in November 2020 to 16% to 18% in November 2021.
As Michiganders plan shorter trips closer to home, local parks that offer a variety of recreational experiences expect to see attendance growth for a second consecutive year, said Lorenz.
Matt Pardy, supervisor of Red Oaks County Park in Madison Heights, said having Oakland County’s two waterparks open this summer for the first time since 2019, is exciting for the thousands of people that visit each year.
Pardy said attendance increased dramatically in 2020 when families had no place to go but their local parks. It is happening again now that families find it too expensive to travel longer distances.
Adjusting plans and budgets
According to destinationanalysts.com, the impact of inflation, gas prices, and other economic factors on travel is significant. Data shows 23% of American travelers canceled upcoming trips and 38% said that high prices kept them from traveling the past month.
But Americans are still prioritizing leisure travel. Nearly 90% have trips planned, three on average. And despite the economic concerns, 60.6% continue to say their leisure travel is a high priority in their budget for the next 3 months, according to that same research.
Rick Scott, an associate professor of marketing at the University of Michigan, said forecasts show travel returning to pre-pandemic levels this summer.
“Just about everyone seems eager to get out and about,” he said. “The main issue is that people are ready to not be home. The past couple of years, in so many ways, have relentlessly reminded us that life is short and unpredictable. This is no time for a staycation or a nearcation. It’s time to explore some far-off places.”
Scott said increased costs have caused
belt-tightening when it comes to travel, but said many travel and vacations are not optional after being cooped up the past three years..
As costs continue to rise, travelers are adjusting their travel spending. The average travel budget for the next 12 months is $3,857 down nearly 10 percent, compared to $4,283 in February, according to destinationanalysts.com,
In April, for the first time since the start of the pandemic, travel spending was 3% above 2019 levels at $100 billion, according to the U.S. Travel Association even with people adjusting their travel budgets as a result of rising costs.
Gas prices
Record-high gas prices are affecting travel behaviors the most. Over the past week, the average price of unleaded gas in Michigan has increased from $4.56 per gallon to $4.93 per gallon, arecord and an 8% increase.
Nearly six in 10 American travelers (59%) say rising gas prices will impact
their decision to travel in the next six months, according to the U.S. Travel Association.
That same percentage of travelers also predict they will be taking fewer road trips if gas prices don’t come down and staying closer to home on their road trips.