Published: May 19, 2008 08:23 pm         

A high price to pay

Tourism takes hit as gas costs climb

PRINCETON, W.Va. — When gas prices soared last year in advance of the summer travel season, the AAA released a survey indicating that the average cost per gallon of regular gas was $3.10 on May 17, 2007. On Monday, the AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report revealed that the average cost for a gallon of regular gasoline in West Virginia hit the $3.93 mark, higher than the national average of $3.79 per gallon and up 34 cents from last month and 72 cents higher than it was a year ago.

“We have seen a drop-off in the number of visitors here, and sales in our craft shop are down,” said Valerie Hendricks, supervisor of the West Virginia Tourism Information Center in Princeton. “When the price of gasoline went up last year, we expected to see a drop, but we didn’t. Truly, this year, we are already seeing it for the first time.”

Hendricks said that a year ago, she observed more families stopping at the center and using the picnic tables, “but this time, it’s different,” she said. “You can tell the difference . Last year, I kept saying it was going to happen, and now it’s here. I’m really interested to see what happens this weekend. When you consider the gas prices, the grocery prices and everything else, it has a pretty major total effect.”

Sgt. J.R. Pauley, co-commander of the Princeton detachment of the West Virginia State Police, said troopers will be conducting traffic flow surveys during the Memorial Day weekend in addition to their regular responsibilities, but even in the absence of hard empirical data, he thinks the amount of traffic has declined locally.

“It does seem that the traffic is less this year than it was last year,” Pauley said. “We’ll have guys out monitoring traffic flow over the weekend, and we should have a better handle on where it’s headed.”

Kim Bowman, general manager of the Bluefield Holiday Inn expressed a tentative opinion of the future. “We had a real good weekend over Mothers’ Day, but that’s partially because we had so many events taking place that weekend,” she said. “In general, it’s been hit and miss.”

Although the motel property she manages already has solid bookings for the Memorial Day weekend, as well as for the traditional annual events like the Bluefield Horse Show that bring people into the area, she is concerned about the advance bookings for class reunions, family reunions and weddings. “We’re just not seeing a lot of activity in that area,” she said. “I think our Memorial Day will be busy like it is typically, but the gas prices are having an impact on everything.”

Beverly Wellman, executive director of the Mercer County Convention and Visitors Bureau, said tourism industry analysts remain optimistic about the summer. “They’re saying that people are still going to take a vacation,” Wellman said. “They’re just going to cut down on the number of trips they will be taking.”

Wellman thinks that the local motel properties are still holding up. “My motels aren’t screaming yet,” she said. “Of course, our monthly board of directors meeting is (today) and I may start hearing it from them at that meeting.

“Really, you have to look at it week by week,” Wellman said. “Previously, with gas being expensive, people found ways to deal with it. We’ll wait and see what happens this weekend.”



Bill Archer writes for the Bluefield (W.Va.) Daily Telegraph.