Gas and the tourist trade (Bangor, Eastport: motorhomes, unemployed, luxury)

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by 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.

I think you're wrong. It is NOT gloom and doom fear mongering when the REALITY at the pump is that gas is already over $4.00 a gallon and rising daily. Throwing $100.00 into the gas tank SEVERAL times to make a trip to Maine would certainly suck the joy out of it for a lot of people. Middle income families have to budget carefully for a trip. Throwing an extra several hunderd dollars into the fuel tank is just not an option for them. Sure there are people who could care less about the price of gas or anything else and they will continue to come here. Though there will be a decrease.
There has already been a marked decrease in the number of self contained motor homes visiting Maine. A large number of these are owned by retirees on fixed incomes who do not have the luxury of paying higher fuel costs. The motor parks in Florida are staying filled now as people cannot afford to drive these behemoths anywhere.
The motorhomes used to sport clever bumper stickers that read "I'm spending my kids inheritance". Now that they've spent it, they're parking the things in their kid's yards!

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by Maineah

I think you're wrong. It is NOT gloom and doom fear mongering when the REALITY at the pump is that gas is already over $4.00 a gallon and rising daily. Throwing $100.00 into the gas tank SEVERAL times to make a trip to Maine would certainly suck the joy out of it for a lot of people. Middle income families have to budget carefully for a trip. Throwing an extra several hunderd dollars into the fuel tank is just not an option for them. Sure there are people who could care less about the price of gas or anything else and they will continue to come here. Though there will be a decrease.
There has already been a marked decrease in the number of self contained motor homes visiting Maine. A large number of these are owned by retirees on fixed incomes who do not have the luxury of paying higher fuel costs. The motor parks in Florida are staying filled now as people cannot afford to drive these behemoths anywhere.
The motorhomes used to sport clever bumper stickers that read "I'm spending my kids inheritance". Now that they've spent it, they're parking the things in their kid's yards!

I have two friends who are coming out to Maine to visit. They are both flying out here. The reason for this is because one does not own a car, and the other only has a week off from work but originally intended to drive out here if she got the two weeks off that she requested. One of these people makes under $25,000 and the other makes just over $27,000, but yet they can afford it even though they constantly complain about being broke all of time (and no, they did not save up for this trip either).

I guess that we will just have to wait and see.

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by K-Luv

I have two friends who are coming out to Maine to visit. They are both flying out here. The reason for this is because one does not own a car, and the other only has a week off from work but originally intended to drive out here if she got the two weeks off that she requested. One of these people makes under $25,000 and the other makes just over $27,000, but yet they can afford it even though they constantly complain about being broke all of time (and no, they did not save up for this trip either).

I guess that we will just have to wait and see.

They're smart! It's cheaper to fly than to drive. What happens to someone flying into Maine...they rent a car! You're not going to use Maine's non existent public transportation system!
If you were the head of a family of four paying a mortgage, insurances, air conditioning, heat bills,clothing,car loans, doctor bills,dentists, day care,home maintenence,entertainment,and trying to squeeze a vacation in there somewhere you'd look at it differently.
You can choose to not do the laundry for a week and not go to the bars for a couple of nights and save enough to go on a trip. Families do not have the same options. They have long term commitments and obligations that need to be met first before they play. For some that extra $1000 for gas to drive from DC to Maine and back in the SUV is the deal breaker.

[Submariner]

This morning gas was selling for $3.79/gallon in Bangor

[mollysmiles]

Gasoline tops $4 a gallon in Calais (http://bangornews.com/news/t/downeast.aspx?articleid=164684&zoneid=177 - broken link)

this morning's news.....I think that what bothers me most is that 11 miles away in Perry the price is $3.87. Also, read the "comments" at the bottom.

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by mollysmiles

Gasoline tops $4 a gallon in Calais (http://bangornews.com/news/t/downeast.aspx?articleid=164684&zoneid=177 - broken link)

this morning's news.....I think that what bothers me most is that 11 miles away in Perry the price is $3.87. Also, read the "comments" at the bottom.

I love the rocket scientist blaming the convenience store owners!

[mollysmiles]

I know what you mean! It's hard to believe that some of these people truly believe the store owners are to blame....

[Boomerang]

Originally Posted by bignhfamily

I am having a love/hate relationship with my trucks right now. 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.

*OUCH*
I once bought a vehicle that got about 10 mpg on its best day, going downhill with a tailwind. Got it for camping and hauling farm stuff. Gas wasn't even so expensive then, but after only a year I couldn't take it anymore and got something more economical. But I'll never forget the pain at the pump and sympathize with you, especially now!

...reminds me to buy a new air filter for the current set of wheels...!

[Maineah]

I gave my brother a car we were getting rid of as I had determined it would be too costly for me to repair it. It was a Subaru Impreza with 165,000 miles on it. Two kids had used it and it was in rough shape. I was going to junk it anyway so I asked my brother if he wanted to take it to his favorite junk yard and he could keep whatever thay gave him for it. He said fine and figured it would be a way to pick up an easy $75-100 dollars as he could drive it there. He called me later in the day saying he felt guilty as they had given him $400.00 for it and wanted to know if I wanted to split the money. I said no a deal is a deal and he could keep it all but was wondering why they gave him so much for it. He said the guy at the junk place was very happy to see the car and said they would have it repaired , stickered ,and ready to sell by the weekend. He felt he could get a couple of grand for it easily!!! The demand for small cars has gone through the roof lately! Anything that runs,however marginally, is worth a lot these days.

[GregW]

Check out the Maine Eastern passenger train service between Brunswick and Rockport during the summer. Save the aggravation of the traffic jams and the wasted fuel.