Illustration of a family fighting while on vacation
More and more Americans are finding that not even a nice vacation can save them from President Donald Trump's chaos.
According to a Thursday report from Bloomberg, skyrocketing gas prices across the U.S. in the wake of Trump's war in Iran have led a growing number of Americans to scale back or outright scrap their vacation plans, finding the cost of travel too high to justify. Citing data from a new survey conducted by the Conference Board, the outlet reported that just 17 percent of Americans are planning to travel abroad in the next six months, the lowest number since the end of 2022, when the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine caused historically high inflation.
Only 22 percent said that they were planning to take a road trip during the same time frame, the lowest number since the pandemic era itself in 2020. As of this week, the average price of a gallon of gas nationwide surpassed $4, with some stations boasting prices as high as $8.
"That would mark a shift in behavior following a period after the pandemic years in which Americans splurged on trips to places far and near," Bloomberg explained. "Disruptions from the war are only the latest challenge facing consumers already dealing with a softer labor market, persistent inflation and a weaker dollar."
Surging gas prices have also led to a corresponding increase in the cost of air travel, as airlines grapple with the new costs of keeping the planes fueled up. Citing data from Deutsche Bank AG, Bloomberg noted that the costs of transatlantic flights booked three weeks in advance are up an average of $200 compared to last month.
“We have to take the gas price increase as a part of a larger picture,” Jan Freitag, the national director of hospitality analytics at CoStar Group, told Bloomberg. “Airfares may just be the last straw.”
Bloomberg also spoke with some Americans who have made changes to their vacation plans in the face of these new economic hardships. Virginia resident Chris Rubino and his wife had been planning a 3,000-mile trip to the Gulf of Mexico for their 35th anniversary, but have now scaled back to a much shorter trip to the North Carolina coast. Recent increases in gas prices would have cost them an extra $600-800 on their original route.
“Now that gas is jacked up a little bit, suddenly that’s adding a whole other dimension to the trip,” Rubino said.