Summer plans include close to home car trips

This summer Americans are going to load up the car and hit the road big-time, according to a new survey and an academic forecast. The predictions fit with an ongoing trend in which short close-to-home getaways are replacing two-week stays far from home.

Sixty percent of Americans took driving getaway vacations last year, according to a survey sponsored by Enterprise Rent-A-Car. These travelers average seven weekend driving trips a year. Top destinations are the beach, the mountains, national or state parks, and lake or river resorts.

The director of Purdue University’s Hospitality and Research Center offers a similar assessment, noting that concerns about security and terrorism are contributing to the rise in close-to-home trips. “Safety concerns will dominate traveler psychology, so car travel will dominate,” said professor Liping Cai. “People will take more frequent, shorter trips rather than two weeks at international resorts.”

With gas prices rising above $2 a gallon, however, drivers on a budget will have to find other ways to save money. “In tourism there are always trade-offs — distance, length of stay and money,” Cai said. “So travelers may adjust to spend 10 percent less of their vacation budget on food to make up for the higher price of fuel.”