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Travel and recreation: outlook and trends.

Article Excerpt
2008 Recap

It is now possible to say that the current consumer tolerance on gasoline prices in regard to travel behavior is around $4.00/gallon. The highest average gasoline prices ever recorded hit during Montana's busiest travel month--July 2008--at $4.21 per gallon. This trend went beyond Montana borders, with the United States also seeing the highest average prices in July 2008 at $4.11 per gallon. Consumers changed their behavior, both at home and while on vacation. Through August 2008, consumers reduced their consumption of gasoline by 5 percent. They took fewer trips to grocery stores, banks, and dry cleaners and at the same time increased biking, walking, and public transportation use. On vacations they stayed closer to home, stayed longer in one spot with fewer side trips, and spent less on retail so they could fill up their gas tank. Some even stayed home.

2008 was a sobering year for domestic travel in the United States (Table 1). Nationwide, preliminary numbers show domestic travel was down 1 percent (Sept. YTD). Preliminary numbers for Montana indicate a 3.7 percent drop in nonresident visitors to Montana in 2008 compared to 2007 (Figure 1). International visits to the United States were the one redeeming factor for the year, with an overall increase of 9 percent. This included an increase of Canadian visits to the United States of 14 percent and an increase of overseas visits of 10 percent. Visits from Mexico, however, were down 7 percent. While Montana does not have international visitation data, it is clear from hoteliers, retailers, attractions, and parks that Canadian travel in Montana was its highest in years, and visitors from overseas grew as well. International travel...

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