RV rental company gives consumers a break

(Originally published in TOURISM)

High fuel costs are prompting at least one RV rental company to come up with ways to give travellers a break on their final holiday tally. For a limited time only, Cruise America is offering a discount mileage special on all rental reservations made at any location in the US or Canada for travel through the end of 2007, according to a company release.

“The last thing we want Americans to do is cancel vacation plans over high prices at the pump,” says Mike Smalley, vice president of operations for Cruise America. “With this discount mileage special, families will still be able to afford the vacations and RV road trips they’ve earned – without cringing every time they fill up. At just 16 cents per mile, down from the standard rate of 32 cents per mile, this discount will more than offset increasing fuel costs.”

The release quotes a May 2 report by the Washington‑based think‑tank "Civil Society Institute", which suggests that 46% of Americans plan to cut back on summer and holiday travel in 2007 if gas prices reach $3.50 per gallon. With the US average now at $3.10 and some areas of California reaching $3.49 already, that price appears inevitable for much of the US.

Cruise America acknowledges in the release that the rise in gas prices isn’t the only subject on the minds of travellers: “As ‘green’ becomes a household term and carbon emissions data turns into water‑cooler conversation,” Americans have become increasingly concerned with their impact on the environment – particularly their travel habits.”

The release quotes George Monbiot in the May 7 edition of The Nation who notes, “the effects of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses released by jets during air travel are around 270% higher than those of average emissions caused by driving the same distance.”

This piece of common wisdom is regularly used by RV tourism promoters. However, the Cruise America release does not state whether Monbiot (a well‑known UK journalist and environmentalist) issued his comment as an official endorsement of RV touring as an alternative to flying.

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