Summer Travel Season

The most popular months for summer travel are here and the Web has a wealth of information to help you find a place to play. Google Maps has teamed up with the Earth Day Network for some special Summer of Green environmentally-friendly suggestions. Not to be outdone, Yahoo Travel also has their own 2006 Summer Travel Guide.

Forbes has a Summer Travel Preview 2006, but as you explore the links on this site and many others, you’ll find it is difficult to draw the line between outright paid promotion and genuine advice—caveat emptor. The article makes a point of saying many people are already booking for summer 2007. Oh, to be so organized.

According to the Travel Industry Association of America (TIA) forecasts, Americans will take 325.6 million leisure person-trips during June, July and August of 2006. They describe a person-trip as one person traveling 50+ miles, one-way, away from home. That seems a bit strange. I haven’t ever taken a one-way vacation.

Although gas prices are high, the TIA feels $3 a gallon will be the tipping point that will really impact travel. According to comments from Dr. Suzanne Cook, senior vice president of Research for TIA, 26 percent of people would seriously consider cancelling a trip if gas prices rose between $3.00 and $3.24 per gallon. The TIA also said the biggest reason (55 percent) for summer travel in 2006 is to visit family and friends.

For mapping your travels, sites such as Google Maps, Yahoo Maps and Google Earth are great planning resources. In fact, Google Earth should come with a warning statement that you will waste mindless hours on vicarious travels in front of your monitor.

The summer of 2006 is here. Go for it.