BOSTON — Dena Feldstein Brody sketched out an $8,000 budget for a 12-day family vacation this summer in England, France and Spain. But those plans were two years ago. Since then, the dollar has plummeted and airfares have soared.
So Brody and her husband and daughter are setting their sights closer to home, renting a vacation home on Martha’s Vineyard, the popular Massachusetts tourist destination for presidents, celebrities and others looking for a seaside getaway.
“I just think that the dollar is better spent here for the time being,” said Brody, an independent staffing consultant.
Despite recession worries, weakness in the housing market and rising fuel costs, travel trend watchers say Americans aren’t giving up their vacation plans. But they’re definitely scaling back.
Vacationers are paring the number of days they plan to spend at exotic locations abroad, buying all-inclusive foreign travel packages to cushion themselves against currency-exchange shocks or just planning trips closer to home.
“They are trading down, but they are not trading out,” said Peter Yesawich, chief executive and trend analyst for YPartnership, a marketing company specializing in travel.
Money is certainly tighter for travelers this year. Gasoline prices are now near record highs — averaging $3.32 a gallon compared with $2.59 this time last year — and analysts expect prices could jump another 75 cents a gallon over the next two months. And the dollar is struggling against the euro, valued at almost $1.60 now compared with $1.33 at this time last year.
Nationwide summer-travel booking figures compiled by AAA show most of the leading destinations this year are not linked to the British pound or the euro, said Mike Pina, the association’s national spokesman.
The top spots included Orlando, Fla.; Cancun, Mexico; Honolulu; and Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.
The number of Americans booking trips to Ireland fell by at least 20 percent, said Brennan Breene, reservations manager for .
