Gas and the tourist trade (Bangor, Brunswick: rent, day care, loans)

[Bydand]

Sure it costs me about $160 to fill up the Suburban right now, but even pulling a trailer I can go almost 700 miles between gas stops so it isn't as bad as people think. Right now gas up here is $3.999 a gallon and I usually put in 40 gallons when I fill up. Just driving without pulling a trailer I can go almost 900 miles down the highway. Running around town I can usually go 3 weeks between fills. It isn't going to put an end to our trips this summer, and I think that people are so set on their vacation time it is going to make an impact, but a rather small one overall

[flycessna]

I do not know how much "travelling" tourism there is....the kind where people travell down rt 1 and stay a different places and sight see, I am wondering if that may change. People might be more apt to just go from point a to point b and just stay put. I do not know.....We cancelled our plans to go to Va this June . I do not know how I am gonna get by next year with anything over $4 oil.....

[maine4.us]

Our car gets about 30 mpg too, I figure from Florida to Maine is going to be about $220 one way. It won't stop us, but I pity the van and SUV drivers. I think they will stay close to home. I know for the first time Georgia advertised in the Florida papers last week. They were touting the north Georgia mountains, and advertised them as a leisurely days drive. The truth, and a lot less than making it to The moutains of West Virginia.

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by Bydand

Sure it costs me about $160 to fill up the Suburban right now, but even pulling a trailer I can go almost 700 miles between gas stops so it isn't as bad as people think. Right now gas up here is $3.999 a gallon and I usually put in 40 gallons when I fill up. Just driving without pulling a trailer I can go almost 900 miles down the highway. Running around town I can usually go 3 weeks between fills. It isn't going to put an end to our trips this summer, and I think that people are so set on their vacation time it is going to make an impact, but a rather small one overall

As long as you can afford it more power to you! Some folks really need a big truck or Suburban as you obviously do. The alternative is running two or three smaller cars and paying the gas, insurance and maintenence on those....and they still won't pull a trailer of any size.

[bignhfamily]

Originally Posted by Maineah

As long as you can afford it more power to you! Some folks really need a big truck or Suburban as you obviously do. The alternative is running two or three smaller cars and paying the gas, insurance and maintenence on those....and they still won't pull a trailer of any size.

I am having a love/hate relationship with my trucks right now. I'm definitely a pick up kind of guy. On any given day I'm towing a utility trailer or some piece of equipment or a horse trailer full of sheep or moving materials or even hay. Both trucks are needed most days. The HD 2500 is averaging 12 mpg and the smaller 1500 somewhere around 15 mpg. Gas is now costing us more than groceries (for a family of 6). I'm really getting worried.

[island mermaid]

I'm hoping that the high price of gas will not deter the tourists from coming. We all know too many people whos livelihood depends upon the tourism. Our friends that work within the service industry, our small business owners, not to mention our fisherman. Bring em' in folks, our economy needs them.

As locals, we also know the downside of that as well, but we won't mention it here. It's a relatively short season and they do stimulate our economy.

[Shuffler]

Tourism is a by-product of the cheap-energy era...might be time for folks to get back on their bicycles, bring back horses and buggies, and get back to meaningful activities like growing food and making useful things...

Word on the street is >$5/gal by end of summer, which is going to destroy automobile-based tourism for most everybody except the wealthy, which in turn is going to create an even larger gap between the 'haves' and 'have nots'.

Tourists could become helpless targets of homicidal unemployed sheetrockers looking for cash to get their next fix of crystal meth....

[Bydand]

Originally Posted by Shuffler

Word on the street is >$5/gal by end of summer, which is going to destroy automobile-based tourism for most everybody except the wealthy, which in turn is going to create an even larger gap between the 'haves' and 'have nots'.

Tourists could become helpless targets of homicidal unemployed sheetrockers looking for cash to get their next fix of crystal meth....

The major problems with this generalization is, Not all tourists are going to be wealthy even if gas hits $5 or higher. Some people are going to save up and may not make as many trips, and not take vacation every year or two, but will still go. Same thing was said at $2 a gallon, and at $3 a gallon. Sure there is going to be a breaking point, but it is not going to stop all but the wealthy from taking an automobile based vacation, slow it way down - yes; stop it totally though - no.

Second one is that not all construction people are meth addicts, I know you said sheetrockers in particular, but it speaks to all the trades. In fact very few in any trade I know, do meth. We are talking 2 or 3 out of hundreds.

[Shuffler]

I was trying to be funny, but nevermind...

Time will tell just how well the average person can handle gas at >$5 per gallon, I guess. Some people can rearrange things to accommodate it while others will freak out.

Companies running tour buses, boats, etc. are going to raise prices to offset higher fuel costs, and fisherman will raise the price of their catch to offset their higher fuel prices as well. There are many examples of just how much that $130/bbl oil is going to affect everything related to tourism and then some.

Look no further than American Airlines. They're in the tourism business. And they are in big trouble...

[K-Luv]

The price of gas is not going to stop tourists from coming into this state. Look at the history of tourism in New England and you will see that tourism to Maine has always remained strong no matter what the economic situation of the country was.

Another thing, there are a lot of tourists who come to this state via boat/ship and tour bus (at least to Southern Maine). A tour bus only needs to raise it's ticket price by a few bucks in order to make up for the current raise in gas prices. Hardly anything that is going to keep a tourist at bay.

There have been a few nasty reports speculating the impact of high gas prices on travel plans, but from what I have been reading many people are tired of the 'doom and gloom' of the current economic situation in this country and are more then looking forward to any (and all) vacation plans that they may have. That trip to Thailand may get cancelled this year but it IS being replace by a domestic trip to another state.

As BacktoNE stated, there are still plenty of people out there who can afford to vacation (and many many people whose homes are not heated by oil).

Personally, I do not think that the current gas prices are going to make a dent in Maine's tourists industry.