Most years, it costs more for travel and hotel accommodations during the Labor Day weekend than the rest of summer, as demand peaks for the final big holiday before Thanksgiving.
Not this year. The toll of the economic recession on the travel industry is creating bargains for travelers.
Labor Day may be not only the cheapest summer holiday so far, but more affordable than travel has been all summer long, said Jennifer Gaines, contributing editor for Travelocity.com.
"We are still seeing good deals out there," Gaines said with regard to those who have not yet made plans. "We tell people to be flexible as possible with dates and to bring down the cost of a vacation be flexible with destinations."
Domestic hotel rates on average for the four-day Labor Day holiday are $138, 15 percent less than $162 a year ago, Travelocity.com reported.
Average round-trip air fare from Florida cities this year is $321, 10 percent less than a year ago. Flights from Tampa International for the Labor Day weekend average $290 for Travelocity bookings.
The 2009 airfare data was based on tickets booked with Travelocity by July 26 for travel between Sept. 3 and Sept. 8. The hotel data was based on bookings by July 26 for check-ins between Sept. 3 and Sept. 8.
AAA Auto Club South reported similar declines in hotel and air fares.
Labor Day holiday air fares are projected to be 17 percent lower than in 2008 rates, while hotel rates for AAA-rated Three Diamond and Two-Diamond lodging properties are expected to decline by 12 percent.
Yet it's likely fewer people will travel in the Southeast – 22 percent less in Florida, Georgia and Tennessee - compared with a 13.3 percent decline nationwide. That's in part because schools in the South mostly begin before Labor Day.
Travelocity bookings show the top 10 domestic Labor Day holiday destinations are - ranked from most popular - Las Vegas, New York, Seattle, Denver, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Orlando, south Florida and Atlanta.
The top international destinations are Cancun, London, Rome, San Jose Cabo, Vancouver, Jamaica, Barcelona, Aruba, Frankfurt and Athens.
While the average hotel rate New York declined 20 percent to $232, its still more than twice the average in Las Vegas of #112, where prices are down 21 percent year over year, Travelocity reported .
Orlando's average hotel rate this year is $114, down 1 percent from Labor Day 2008.
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