Dina Guillen had planned to make the 520-mile drive from her home in the Rio Grande Valley to Dallas to visit family for her teenager’s spring break. But after calculating the cost — particularly the painfully high price of gas — she decided to figure out a cheaper way, according to The New York Times.
So instead of an eight-hour journey through Texas two weeks ago, she made a two-hour jaunt to Corpus Christi. The change shaved off about $100 in gas costs. Ms. Guillen, 46, a home health care worker, said she still hopes to get to Dallas with her daughter in the coming months, but only if gas prices drop.
“We’ll wait until the summer and see what happens,” she said. “It’s scary what’s going on.”
Spring break, one of the busiest vacation seasons of the year, has presented a trifecta of headaches for travelers: soaring gas prices and airfare spikes, long and unpredictable airport security lines tied to a partial government shutdown, and persistently high food costs.
The Iran war, along with the spring break season, has pushed gas prices to levels not seen since 2022, when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine affected the global oil supply. The cost of airline fuel has also surged, as have fares, but generally, demand for tickets has not yet dampened. That includes travelers who are purchasing tickets now to lock in prices for summer travel.
“Our indicators show that demand is holding strong,” said Casandra Matej, the chief executive of Visit Orlando, a tourism association, noting that travelers typically book spring break trips well in advance.
But as the summer approaches, that demand could change.
“As people have to spend more for gas, that’s going to eat into their budget for other things, including discretionary vacation funds,” said Eric Rosen, director of travel content at The Points Guy, a travel and loyalty points information website. “If gas prices remain high, you are going to see a lot of people re-evaluate their road trip plans for the summer.”
