Lower lodging and meal costs should help vacation travelers compensate for record high gas prices in 2004, according to AAA's annual vacation costs survey. Lodging and dining costs should be about 4 percent lower this year than in 2003.

That figure marks the second largest decrease in these core vacation costs since AAA began calculating these figures in 1950 when the average daily cost of meals and lodgings was $13. The largest decrease in prices was in 1962, when the average daily cost declined by 17 percent.

AAA's survey shows that a family of two adults and two children can expect to pay an average $235 per day for food and lodging. Lodging rates will average $125 a night, down nearly 6 percent from last year. Meals will cost $110, down almost 2 percent from 2003.

"The downturn in the economy in recent years had a major impact on the lodging industry and the rates properties could charge," says Sandra Hughes, AAA Travel vice president. "Many hoteliers--especially at properties catering to leisure travelers--reduced their rates for 2004 to encourage vacation travel. Recent increases in business and leisure travel have allowed some hoteliers to raise their rates, but there are still opportunities for travelers to find deals."

Driving to vacation destinations will be more expensive this year, with prices for self serve regular unleaded gasoline currently averaging $1.93 per gallon nationwide--up almost 29 percent from the $1.50 price a year ago. 

"Travelers will have to 'give back' some of their hotel and meal savings at the gas pump this year, but the record high gas prices shouldn't break vacation budgets for most Americans," says Hughes.

The least expensive vacations in the United States this year are in Kansas, where the daily cost of food and lodging for a family of four will average $169; North Dakota, $173; Nebraska, $175; Arkansas, $178; and Oklahoma, $178.

The most expensive state for vacationers, unchanged for more than five years, is Hawaii at $497. However, even the cost of staying in the "Islands of Aloha" is down $36 per day from last year. Other destinations with a high average daily cost include the District of Columbia, $378; Rhode Island, $306; New York, $305; and Massachusetts, $287.

AAA's meal and lodging costs are based on prices reported by the more than 52,000 lodgings and restaurants listed in AAA's TourBook® guides, the most widely distributed travel guidebook series in North America with more than 24 million copies sold.

Source: AAA