America's Summer Hot Spots Wonder: Will the Vacationers Still Come?
Tim Cafferty, who owns a vacation rental business on North Carolina's Outer Banks, is upbeat about the summer season, but he is also doing anything he can to lure would-be vacationers.
His company, Outer Banks Blue, ran a special promotion in March offering a 15 percent discount on bookings. He is encouraging property owners to drop their prices. And for the first time, he is allowing visitors to reserve many of the 300 houses his company manages for just a few days instead of requiring them to stay a full week.
All that has helped juice his sales, but there are still surprising vacancies. The week of the Fourth of July, a highly coveted rental period, is 'very soft for some reason,' Mr. Cafferty said. And more houses than usual are still available for late August, which could be because people are waiting until the last minute to book their getaways.
In the end, Mr. Cafferty said, he would count himself lucky if Outer Banks Blue's occupancy levels this summer ended flat compared with last year given the uncertain economic climate.
'People are ready to come,' he said. 'They are just looking for a good price.'
Mr. Cafferty's cautious optimism in the face of those worrisome trends is indicative of how many business owners in popular vacation areas are approaching the crucial summer months. Although American consumers are showing some signs of strain amid concerns about higher prices and the prospect of a recession, many businesses that cater to domestic tourists are preparing, somewhat guardedly, for what they expect to be a relatively normal summertime surge.
Their bullishness is not unfounded. For all the concerns in recent years that consumer spending would buckle under soaring inflation and high borrowing costs, it has managed to remain solid, powering economic growth even when the economic outlook was hazy.
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