Well, folks: it looks like the summer season is upon us. As temperatures rise and the official first day of summer has just passed, many Americans are looking forward to that beloved annual ritual – the summer vacation. Families across the country are anticipating loading up the car or packing onto a plane with kids and gear as they head off on their seasonal adventure – whether it be to the beach, the mountains, an amusement park or some other exhilarating destination.
Yet, admittedly, this summer feels different. Given the recent economic turmoil, many people are cutting back on their plans – or perhaps cutting out travel altogether – an unsettling turn of events for the travel industry. In fact, the Travel Industry Association projects that domestic leisure travel will decline by more than 2% this summer from last year, and international travel could drop by 7%.
But what’s bad for the industry can be good for the consumer, as deals abound – and the web can be a great resource for those looking to get the most bang for their summer travel buck. So we’ve put on our travel agent hat for the day to offer the following tips to those with a yearning to hit the road. Take a look, and Bon Voyage!
Vacation packages: An old standby, there are great deals to be had on combo air/hotel packages this summer, as many resorts and hotels clamor to help their potential customers make it to their locations. According to Tom Parsons of BestFares.com, <http://bestfares.com/> the best deals are found at luxury properties, which have been hit especially hard by the recession. Parsons suggests first looking for airfare to find the dates that offer the cheapest flights, then use those dates when pricing packages. This way you can often save hundreds of dollars by bundling, and finding and using the cheapest flight dates can save you even more. Sites like Priceline, <http://www.priceline.com/Default.asp?session_key=3F0011AC400011AC200906101958555125c1219289&plf=pcln&sttgt=Y> Travelocity <http://travelocity.com/> and Orbitz <http://www.orbitz.com/> offer a variety of options for vacation packages. Yapta <http://www.yapta.com/> allows you to track airline and hotel prices – you can sign up to get price drop alerts so you know when the cheapest rates are available. Hola Mexico! The recent swine flu outbreak hit the Mexico tourism industry hard - at one point, hotel occupancy was down 50% to 80%. With the outbreak having now subsided, many low-cost vacation options are available. Suzanne Barbezat, author of Suzanne’s Mexico Travel Blog on About.com Guide to Mexico Travel, wrote a recent post <http://gomexico.about.com/od/accomodations/tp/mexico_travel_deals.htm> highlighting some of the hot travel deals to that country.
Blogs, blogs and more blogs: Whoever says they can’t find a good travel deal these days is … well, just not looking hard enough! There are dozens and dozens of travel-related blogs and websites, many focused specifically on deals and budget travel. Check out AllTop.com’s Travel section <http://travel.alltop.com/> for a comprehensive list of some of the best. A few of our favorites are: the “Flee Market” on Family Travel Forum; <http://www.familytravelforum.com/how/vacation_deals/index.1.html> the Family Travel Guide; <http://www.familytravellogue.com/> the LA Times Daily Travel & Deal Blog; <http://travel.latimes.com/daily-deal-blog/> and This Just In: Budget Travel’s blog <http://current.newsweek.com/budgettravel/> . All are great resources for finding hot deals all around the world. Speaking of online, the travel peeps are tweeting: Many of the great online resources are on Twitter as well, from the USA Today Travel section <http://twitter.com/USATODAYtravel> to travel guru Peter Greenberg, <http://twitter.com/PeterSGreenberg> so it’s now possible to get real-time access to their knowledge … though we don’t recommend planning those vacations you may already be dreaming about while on the job! Social networks: A variety of social networks aimed at travelers have popped up in recent years – from Lonely Planet and Trip Advisor to Dopplr and Driftr, Budget Globetrotting <http://www.budgetglobetrotting.com/2008/top-10-travel-social-networks-and-communities/> breaks down the top 10 networks, both new and old. If you thought it wasn’t easy – and fun! – to plan your vacation, think again … By Kate Jay
