Cheaper gas sends summer travelers down the highway

Stephen Curran

Tuesday, June 25, 2002 | 11:08 a.m.

Air-weary travelers are taking to the nation's roads again, and are doing so at a savings of about 14 cents per gallon since one year ago, according to a recently released AAA survey.

According to the survey last week of about 500 Nevada gasoline stations, a traveler can expect to pay an average of $1.59 per gallon in the state, the lowest in two years, compared with $1.73 last year.

This could be good news for tourism in the Las Vegas Valley, which suffered a hit shortly after September's terrorist attacks, but has since recovered. In the past month tourism in the state is up about 1 percent from June of last year, Lisa Foster, spokeswoman for AAA Nevada, said.

"Despite people's concerns related to travel, more people are traveling than last year," Foster said.

The increase represents a greater emphasis on travel on the highways to the Las Vegas area. It has increased between 5 and 9 percent, said Rob Powers, spokesman for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

But gas prices -- which nationwide have hovered around $1.39 a gallon for the past three months -- are only one factor for many travelers, as the fluctuations represent an extra $10 to $15 in the average driver's budget, Powers and Foster agreed.

For example, in November 2000, when gas prices were at a record high, a record number of people took to the roads, Foster said, indicating that while gas prices "play a role, they are just one factor."

For human resources and diversity consultant John Polhill, the decision to drive his full-size Ford Expedition sport utility vehicle nearly 3,000 miles from his home in New Jersey to Las Vegas was not a financial one.

"(Gas prices) played a little part in the decision, but I'm just not comfortable with flying yet," he said.

Polhill estimates he spent between $400 and $600 on gasoline on the trip.

Having a job that requires frequent travel, Polhill said he finds himself driving to destinations to which he would previously have flown, mirroring a national trend.

Although many international airlines have resumed flights to Las Vegas that had been suspended after Sept. 11, Powers noted a "lingering decrease" in air travel as domestic travelers decide to stay on the ground.

But Jerry Chapin, senior cashier at a Union 76 station on the corner of Koval Lane and Tropicana Avenue, which advertises gas at $1.69 a gallon, said he had not noticed an unusual increase in customer traffic.

"It's the summertime, it always picks up in the summer," Chapin said. "People are going to buy gas no matter what."

For Mark Taylor, a computer programmer from Northern California, the lower gas prices simply meant upgrading to a higher octane. Using 92 octane, it cost Taylor $28.83 to refuel his Ford Windstar minivan.

"I was a little surprised at the price, but it didn't really have any impact," he said. "We just decided to drive."