Travel experts have seen an uptick in travel to Europe, even though airfares are higher than a year ago.
With summer vacations winding down and Labor Day just around the corner, travel experts have seen a mix of trends. High unemployment and stock-market gyrations did keep many people from spending freely. And they economized by staying closer to home.
At the other extreme, luxury travel is up, said Pauline Frommer, guidebook author, syndicated columnist, and host of a radio show on travel.
"We've seen a boom in luxury travel - river cruises in Europe and Asia are off the charts," Frommer said. "It's the exact opposite of what I would expect during a recession."
Meanwhile, many hotels are offering "resort credit" - the equivalent of cash to spend at the resort on food, the spa, or beverages at the bar, said Kari Thomas, president of Will Travel in Langhorne.
"That was quite a big trend, especially in Florida, because of the gulf oil spill. Hotels were trying to entice people to come down. The pricing was good. Even Miami was offering very good prices."
"I saw Europe come back a bit," Thomas said. "The only problem with Europe was getting there - airfares were high. Once you were there, Europe was a bargain. And a lot of people are going in September to Europe because prices start to go down again. It's the shoulder season."
Jim Reilly, a sales executive from Princeton, flew from Philadelphia to Zurich, Switzerland, on business Monday. Earlier this month, he and his wife and two daughters took a family vacation to Paris and Nice, France. The improved value of the dollar was "not 100 percent the reason, but it was a nice benefit."
"Compared to several summers ago when we went, prices were much more reasonable, although restaurants are still expensive," Reilly said.
