SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
If you're hitting the road this Memorial Day weekend, don't expect a relaxing solitary journey. Tens of millions of people are expected to take at least a short getaway at the start of what's typically a busy summer travel season. This year, many people say they feel shaky about their personal finances, but as NPR's Scott Horsley reports, that doesn't mean they'll stay home all summer.
SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: Debra Miller runs a historic bed and breakfast in Kane, Pennsylvania, near the Alleghany National Forest. It's a popular destination for folks driving in from nearby Pittsburgh, Buffalo or Cleveland.
DEBRA MILLER: Our land butts up against the National Forest. So most of our guests drive up here, you know, to hike or bike or ATV trails around, too. People like to do that.
HORSLEY: Miller's inn was busy in the month leading up to Memorial Day, despite some rainy weather, but she's not so sure about the rest of the summer.
MILLER: Well, I'm looking at June. I feel like we're a little bit down compared to where we were for June for last year, and then July is still looking a little lower. But these things always kind of rectify as you get closer. And we get a lot of, you know, reservations when people just decide to take maybe a short day trip or something. So I'm still hopeful.
HORSLEY: Hotel bookings nationwide have been barely growing this spring. But Jan Freitag, who's a travel analyst with the CoStar Group, says that doesn't necessarily spell trouble for the industry. It may just mean that cautious travelers are waiting longer to finalize their plans.
JAN FREITAG: We always like to say uncertainty breeds inaction. And what that means for the leisure traveler is that they're sitting a little bit on their hands.
HORSLEY: Surveys suggest there's a lot of uncertainty about the economic outlook. So Freitag says when people do decide to travel, they're often looking to cut corners.
FREITAG: I'm not flying. I'm driving. I'm not staying right on the beach. I'm staying two blocks away from the beach. But most importantly, we are still going.
HORSLEY: Aixa Diaz, who's with AAA, expects many travelers will opt for simple road trips this summer, rather than far-flung vacations.
AIXA DIAZ: They will pack up the car and just go somewhere for the weekend, and perhaps people are staying with family or friends. So it doesn't always have to be an expensive hotel, expensive flight, expensive meals. I mean, people can still travel on a budget.
HORSLEY: That's Johanna Leyba's strategy. The Wheat Ridge, Colorado resident's planning a couple of short camping vacations close to home this summer. But Leyba says a flight to Las Vegas or San Diego may have to wait.
JOHANNA LEYBA: I'm - kind of manager of family finances, and I'm trying to make sure that we're just saving more. So as a family, we're just trying to buckle down and make sure that we have extra funds in case things get a little tighter going forward.
HORSLEY: Leyba's husband is close to retirement, so he's been keeping a nervous eye on the volatile stock market. And Leyba's worried her own business - consulting for nonprofits - could take a hit this year from government spending cuts.
LEYBA: The economy is just so all over the place, and nobody really knows where it's going to land. We are just going to assume it's going to be bad, and if it isn't, we'll be in a great shape. And if it does, we'll be OK.
HORSLEY: Industry analysts say wealthy Americans are still spending freely on travel, including to foreign destinations. So far, this year, though, the number of foreign visitors to the U.S. is down. That's worrisome to Debra Miller, the Pennsylvania bed and breakfast owner. Her inn is just a couple hours south of the Canadian border.
MILLER: I was very concerned because some of the rhetoric coming from Washington, I think, has made Canadians feel unwelcome.
HORSLEY: Miller tried to overcome that by sending email coupons to Canadians who visited her inn in the past.
MILLER: I got some interesting responses back, some you probably can't play on your radio show, saying, basically, we're not coming to America this year or maybe ever.
HORSLEY: Still, a handful of Canadian customers took advantage of the coupons to book visits this summer. Miller's hoping for a further thaw in U.S.-Canada relations before the next big travel holiday on the Fourth of July.
Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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