By Rob Moritz
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — With the Memorial Day start of the summer travel season just weeks away, energy officials expect road trips to be a bargain this year compared to last summer.
The Energy Information Administration on Tuesday projected the price of a gallon of regular gasoline to average $2.23 this summer, with prices likely peaking around $2.30.
“Hopefully that will come to pass,” said AAA spokesman Mike Right.
Nationally, regular gas averaged $3.81 last summer and soared past $4 for a time — the average price set a record in Arkansas on July 17 at $3.97 a gallon.
On Tuesday, the average price of regular gas in Arkansas was $1.95 a gallon, compared to $3.26 a gallon in mid-April last year.
Still, summer vacation travel is once again expected to be below normal, but because of the sluggish economy, not the price of gasoline.
“Energy consumption follows economic activity. The price of gasoline is down now because the demand is down,” Right said, adding the lower price of oil also contributed to the decrease.
“We started seeing vehicle miles traveled decrease at the end of 2007 and all of 2008 we saw a month to month decrease in the number of miles traveled … and thus far in 2009, the months available indicate the number of vehicle miles are down,” he said “Certainly we have record high unemployment in many parts of the country and the overall general activity is on life support in some areas.”
State tourism officials say a gloomy economic forecast could benefit Arkansas with travelers, both in state and from neighboring states, deciding to vacation closer to home.
“Some of the anecdotal evidence we’re seeing is encouraging,” said Joe David Rice, the state’s tourism director, noting the city of Hot Springs has reported a significant increase in tourism already this year, and that Oaklawn Park thoroughbred track had a successful racing season.
Also, the number of people visiting Arkansas parks and campgrounds is up significantly so far this year, said Joe Jacobs, marketing and revenue manager for the state Department of Parks and Tourism.
“We’re up for the first three months of this year, even with a few of the parks and campgrounds shut down because of ice storms,” Jacobs said.
“This year, we feel like because of the economy a lot of people will be saving their vacation dollars and spending more time locally,” he said.
But having more visitors has not equated to more tourist spending so far. Jacobs said park gift shops and restaurants have reported flat revenue, a possible indication that those visiting the state parks were from Arkansas.
“They were bringing their own food and didn’t need an Arkansas souvenir,” he said.
Rice said state officials are concerned that a downturn in the Texas economy could affected tourism in Arkansas.
“Last year Texas had a strong economy … there was an increase of about 100,000 jobs,” Rice said. “We’ve heard the recession is to finally hit there and they might lose about 100,000 jobs.
“Since Texas is our number feeder, that could adversely affect us if they decide to stop traveling. “On the other hand, … they might want to take short trips, travel shorter distances.”
