Soaring Gas Prices Send Travel Plans Tumbling
Posted August 25, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Did you manage to get away this summer?
You’re in the minority. Many Canadians chose to remain at home, opting for a “stay”cation instead of a vacation.
According to a poll by Angus Reid, about 40 per cent of us – or two in five surveyed -turned to local tourism this year.
But it may not have been our first choice. Staying in town felt more like the only option due to high fuel costs.
Check current fuel prices in the GTA here.
The online poll found that more than half of Canadians, or 56 per cent, say the cost of gasoline has affected their vacation plans. A quarter of us (26 per cent) cancelled plans to travel by car; while 10 per cent cancelled air travel plans
That’s backed up by Statistics Canada research which blamed the ever-increasing cost of filling up for a soaring inflation rate. The annual inflation rate rose to 3.4 per cent in July from 3.1 the month before.
But if you take gasoline out of the mix, consumer prices only rose 2.1 per cent
And the problems are the same south of the border. A study by AAA, formerly the American Automobile Association, has found that US citizens are skipping Labour Day trips due to the high cost of fuel.
That ties in with a drop in overall travel this summer, again because of rising gas prices but also because of the weak US dollar, making foreign travel more expensive for Americans.
AAA said its annual online survey showed 34.38 million people plan to travel 50 miles or more between Aug. 30 and Sept. 1, down from 34.7 million last year.
