Good news for California tourism: July 4 travel expected to decline
For the first time this decade, fewer Americans are likely to travel over the holiday weekend. But stay-at-homes, combined with foreign tourists, is a boon to California.
Faced with sticker shock at airports and gas pumps, fewer Americans are expected to travel over this Fourth of July holiday weekend, marking the first such decline this decade.
But the surge in families deciding to stay closer to home, coupled with bargain-hunting foreign visitors, is translating into a surprising boon for Southern California's tourism industry.
Instead of booking a weeklong getaway to Hawaii, people are loading up the car and driving to regional theme parks and attractions that don't involve costly air travel.
"We're not going anywhere far this summer," said Matt Boland, a San Juan Capistrano resident who was standing in line for tickets Tuesday at Universal Studios Hollywood.
With his termite-extermination business hurting from the housing downturn, Boland has put the family on a tight budget this summer. "Just the local beaches and amusement parks for us," he said.
The Bolands are not alone. Reservations by Southern Californians at local hotels are up 9% compared to last year, according to Expedia Travel Trendwatch, and many popular state beach campsites are booked solid for the remainder of the summer.
"What we are seeing is a revision of travel plans, rather than cutting them out," said Bruce Baltin, senior vice president of PKF Consulting Corp., which monitors the hotel industry.
"Eighty-five percent of travel within California is by Californians, anyway," he said. "Southern California as a whole typically benefits when people are cutting back on what we do."
At the same time, an uptick in foreign visitors is helping to keep tourist-related hotels and restaurants busy. Duty-free shops at Los Angeles International Airport are also doing brisk business as foreign tourists take advantage of the weak dollar.
Visiting from England, Angus MacDonald, his wife, Hester, and their two children are on an expeditious two-week tour of the West Coast. The strong value of the euro compared with the dollar has made visiting California a bargain this summer, the MacDonalds say.
In the last week, the MacDonalds have visited the San Diego Zoo, Disneyland, Sea World and Universal Studios. On Wednesday they hit the Grand Canyon and today, Las Vegas.
"It's cheap to come here," said Angus MacDonald. "Everything is reasonable."
Theme park officials said they've focused much of their promotions this summer on local residents and international travelers.
