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The Recession Will End… When Staycations Are a Thing of the Past
Says who: Staycationers – those who have had to cut back on their normal vacation plans to far-flung destinations and chosen instead to spend their time off in their own backyards.
Why it might be false: Just because staycations are said to be the summer’s hot thing doesn’t mean that everyone’s doing them. In fact, cruises, campgrounds and destination spas are experiencing surges in traffic. Priceline.com’s recent 35% second-quarter profit increase contradicts the idea that staycations are dominating “time off time” and underlines that there are some great deals on the market. Even if staycationers aren’t spending a lot of dough on transportation or accommodations, they are still spending money and bolstering the local economies. In short, they aren’t as damaging to the economy as other spending cutbacks might be (like, say, on buying homes).
Why it could be true: Businesses and local economies that rely on travel and tourism have been hit. Travel and tourism exports have dropped 3% month-over-month. According to data from the U.S. Department of Commerce, spending related to travel from other countries to the United States fell to $9.5 billion for the month – down 22% year-over-year. When travel and tourism is back to normal and staycation is no longer a popular buzzword, we’ll know the recession is over.
Our call: While staycations might be a necessity for some right now, they aren’t hitting the economy all that hard, since people are still finding other ways to have some summer fun. Whether you’re feeling the pain or not, now’s a great time for grabbing a travel steal while they still last!
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A staycation helped me discover attractions I’d previously never (or rarely) visited while employed in DC. It’s made me more likely to visit those places again, but probably more as day trips than full out staycations. I think it’s still a goal for most people to leave their region a few times a year and see something truly different.