Many tourists expect a deal

Hotels try giveaways, other lures as crowds become more frugal

Thank goodness for gas cards.

Tighter family budgets have curbed traffic and spending in popular Carolinas vacation spots, but some businesses are weathering the downturn through aggressive marketing of discounts, specials and other incentives -- including gas cards.

In Brunswick County, home of Bald Head Island, Sunset Beach and other beach communities, many hotels and rental companies offered $50 and $100 gas cards to visitors, said Mitzi York, executive director of the county Tourism Development Authority.

"I just don't remember in previous summers seeing a lot of that," she said.

Yet such moves have been a must in regions that depend heavily on visitors' spending. While rental homes that take reservations and payments far in advance are more insulated against cancellations, some hotels and restaurants suffered this summer and have been hustling to minimize the hit from cash-strapped travelers.

Such efforts usually start to ebb in August, but discounts are expected to carry into the fall.

Managers of hotels, restaurants and attractions realized this spring that they had to work together on vacation packages to land business, said Marla Tambellini, marketing director at the Asheville Convention & Visitors Bureau.

With the school year yet to begin in many districts, including Wake County's, it's too soon to sum up the summer travel season, tourism officials said, because Carolinas destinations continue to woo travelers.

Carolyn McCormick, director of the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau, said she has worked in tourism for more than 20 years. For the first time, she said, tourism officials are pursuing summer travelers during the summer months, recognizing that many are holding out for deals before planning trips.

"Typically, I never do that," McCormick said.

Even in regions with steady crowds this summer, changes in visitor behavior meant less money for businesses.

Besides waiting to book hotel rooms, some travelers stayed fewer days. At restaurants, filet mignon and fine wine were out, and burgers and beer were in, as diners favored cheaper menu items, if they ate out at all.

Guests at one Outer Banks inn where rooms rent for $250 a night often eat at one of the two upscale restaurants run by the inn's owner, McCormick said. This year, she said, the innkeeper saw visitors take food to their rooms.

"People are coming in with Pizza Hut and Subway," she said.

Ellen Frank of Indian Land, S.C., said that when she goes to the coast -- her last trip was to Surfside Beach in late July -- she often brings groceries and has curbed visits to restaurants.

"You can't control the price of airfare. You can't control the price of gas," she said. "One thing you can control is the price of food."

In the Outer Banks, bed and breakfast businesses and time shares saw more guests in June than a year ago, but hotels, cottages and campgrounds saw dips, according to visitors bureau data.

Rental homes, however, remained strong -- with 10 percent more guests in June -- and total guests in Outer Banks lodging increased more than 7 percent from June 2007, although that's down from a nearly 21 percent jump from 2006 to 2007.

To be sure, the tourism industry saw this coming. In tough economic times, optional expenses such as travel often are the first to go.

That's why many hotels, attractions and visitors bureaus dangled deals, and why marketing efforts shrank in scope to target areas within a few hours' drive, hoping to capture last-minute, bargain-hunting travelers.

"There was such an anticipation that people weren't going to come," said Pauline Levesque, chief executive of the Myrtle Beach Area Hospitality Association. "The industry joined the panic bandwagon."