This holiday weekend is the traditional beginning of America's summer vacation period. While the past few years have challenged the notion of "traditional," let's consider some statistics, then see where you fit among the trends.
Providing the numbers is travel-industry researcher Judy L. Randall, the statistics coming through her luscious North Carolina drawl.
Speaking to newspaper travel editors convened recently in Vancouver, Randall Travel Marketing's president and CEO explained that for the travel industry, the "good old days" were quite recent:
Statistics for the year 2000 - hotel rooms booked, airplane seats filled, theme park tickets sold, cruise passengers boarded, etc. - made it the best year ever, topping 35 years of generally increasing revenues.
But the overall picture was deceptive, because the national economy was declining in 2000. The following year, business managers cut costs by reducing travel for sales trips, business meetings and conventions.
Then came the horrific attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The most publicized economic consequences were the losses by domestic airlines. From the beginning of 2002 through the first quarter of 2004, the major U.S. airlines lost an estimated $18-billion.
The ripple effect of fewer customers traveling from far away was felt in every segment of the tourism industry:
* The number of people traveling for business reached about 137-million in 2000, but by last year it had crept back to just about 117.5-million.
* The occupancy rate of hotels fell - from about 63.7 percent in benchmark 2000 to 59.2 percent in 2003.
Randall also offered the forecasts of experts who have layered survey upon survey: The travel industry is not expected to match 2000's levels before 2006.
But if you don't earn a living in the tourism industry, why should you care? Because tourism powers our state's economic engine. Tourists not only pay a lot of Floridians' salaries; they also furnish a lot of our tax revenue.
And for Floridians, the news is better than the national composite.
Leisure travel - vacations as opposed to business trips - has actually increased every year despite 9/11, SARS, the Iraq war and the troubled economy.
Two major segments of Florida's tourism industry, cruise ticket sales and theme park attendance, show notable improvement. In 2003, Walt Disney World's four theme parks in Orlando were the first-, third-, fourth- and fifth-most-visited parks; Disneyland was No. 2.
The cloud on this horizon: More than half of all out-of-state visitors to Florida arrive by car, and skyrocketing gasoline prices are changing people's driving plans. A survey of motorists taken about one month ago found that 19 percent said they would vacation closer to home, and 9 percent are going to cancel their summer vacation plans because of gas prices.
To counteract the economic impact of the price increases, some motels are offering their multinight guests a coupon for a fill-up.
How about your vacation?
A report issued last year said that Americans are working almost one full week more a year than they did in 1990. And "All customer segments have become more "bargain-brained' (for) travel and tourism costs," Randall noted. "They are afraid that whatever they pay it will be more than others pay" for the same experience.
Such facets of everyday life put more emphasis on the need for vacationers to be sure they will be satisfied with their leisure experience. As Randall put it: "Feel-good travel is demanded by a stressed-out, miserable public. We are traveling but staying closer to home, just four to five hours away.
"Travelers demand less hassle - give me comfort, don't make me stand in line."
And we all know about the lines at airports . . . .
So what kind of vacation are you choosing? What do we expect from your trip?
Have you joined the crowds that have, since 9/11, reinvigorated the "traditional" family vacation - piling into the car or boarding the plane and heading out as a group for a week or two?
Perhaps you are on one end or the other of the generation-skipping trips in which seniors travel with their grandchildren but without the youngsters' parents.
Family reunions have become so popular that theme parks and cruise lines have created marketing campaigns to lure these groups with special packages and discounts.
No longer is RV travel reserved for retirees. The demand for custom-made RVs has created a six-month delay in delivery.
And there is yet one more version of the no-stress vacation: Increasingly, people want to bring along their pets, which is easiest to do when the vacationers are driving.
A study shows that 14 percent of all U.S. adults have traveled at least 50 miles with a pet within the past three years. A different survey revealed a majority of respondents were willing to pay an added $25 a day to be able to bring their pets.
It takes all kinds
Beyond the destination itself, there are widely different concerns affecting where we decide to travel. These concerns are safety, comfort and convenience. But the importance of these factors varies with age groups. "Baby boomers are less concerned with safety," she noted. They have a "We're going to live forever" attitude, she said. But for seniors and Gen Xers (people born between the early 1960s and late 1970s), "Safety continues to rank at or near the top in . . . trip planning."
On the other hand, she continued, "Baby Boomers will pay any price to get "bragging rights' about their vacations and for convenience and comfort."
For example, SeaWorld Orlando's Discovery Cove experience (swimming with dolphins) is so popular that it has been expanded this summer for the first time to an evening event. In addition to the bottlenose dolphin experience, guests get drinks, hors d'oeuvres, island-music serenades, a special dinner and a seven-day pass to either SeaWorld or Busch Gardens.
This Twilight Discovery event is limited to 100 people a night - enough exclusivity to create bragging rights about it when the vacationers get home. The tab: $249 plus tax.
An example of the desire for the "comfort facet" of vacationing is the surge in spa vacations. If a major hotel or resort was built without a spa facility, then meeting space or even guest rooms are being converted or the hotel is announcing on its Web site that guests have privileges at an in-town spa/fitness club down the street. And while cruising was seldom considered a strenuous vacation, every ship now touts its spa and fitness offerings.
Another trend is the "theme" or "total immersion" vacation. Typical are the weeklong escapes to a dude ranch, cooking classes in France, race car driving schools, sailing on a clipper ship or camping in a rain forest.
Did you see yourself in those trends? Or did you discover a trend you want to join? It's time to plan that next vacation.
