Costly Fares, Hotels Crimp Spring Trips
 Marilyn Adams - USA TODAY
| | Increases become starkly apparent to students and families when trying to book trips to warm-weather locations when schools let out for break. |
The cost of spring break travel is soaring, and travelers are responding by taking shorter trips.
"People are shortening their vacations to afford them," says Amy Ziff, editor-at-large at Travelocity, the No. 2 online travel agency. "Travel's expensive again."
For the first time in six years of tracking its bookings, Travelocity this year has seen the average duration of spring break trips fall below five days.
The 4.9-day average in 2007 is down nearly 7% from a year ago, and down nearly 17% from 2002. That's a reduction of one full day since tracking began. The averages measure domestic and international trips booked for late February and March.
Strong travel demand in the last few years has been driving up airfares and hotel costs. Those increases become starkly apparent to students and families when trying to book trips to warm-weather locations when schools let out for break.
"There are some cheap published fares out there, but you won't qualify for them" during peak weeks, says Tom Parsons, publisher of BestFares.com.
Though trips may be shorter this year, Parsons says, it doesn't appear that anyone is staying home because of the high cost of travel.
"I think demand is stronger this year" than last, Parsons says.
On Friday, the cheapest available airfare during the first week of April for a family of four from Chicago O'Hare to Cancun, Mexico, was $3,660 on JetBlue. That's when Chicago-area schools are closed for break.
Kevin Healy, vice president of AirTran Airways, says higher spring break fares haven't hurt demand.
"There are some seats left," during peak spring weeks, "but not a lot," he says.
For March and April, Expedia, the No. 1 online travel agency, says fares booked on its website to Miami and Fort Lauderdale are up 5% to 10% from a year ago. Fares to Mexico's Puerto Vallarta, Los Cabos and Cancun are up 7% to 13% from last year.
Hotel rates can show shocking increases for peak-demand weeks at warm-weather destinations, too. The average room booked on Travelocity in Nassau, Bahamas, is $282 this spring, up 9% from last year.
The average South Florida room is $199, up 11%. In Honolulu, it's $183, up 18%. In Jamaica, it's $252, up 20%. It's $335 on Aruba, up 20%.
Smith Travel Research, which tracks hotel rates, says average hotel rates for popular spring destinations including Denver, Phoenix and Oahu, Hawaii, have registered double-digit increases since last year.
When traveler George Romey, of New York City, checked his favorite hotel in Miami's South Beach, The Penguin, for April, it was $209 per night. That is up from $129 in November.
"It pained me to spend that," he says. "That was close to my tolerance level for what I would pay." |
Vallarta Weddings
Travel & Outdoors | March 2007 
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