ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — As prices continue to climb past record levels at the pump, people across Central Florida are doing whatever they can to ease the pain on their wallets.
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Experts said that could include limiting where people are willing to travel for spring break.
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Mark Jenkins with AAA said with another increase of almost $8 per barrel in oil prices on Tuesday alone, that will mean about a 20-cent increase at the pump playing out over the next few days — and right as we get into the spring break travel season, which usually brings hundreds of thousands of people from out of state to Florida.
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“This year is very unique in that we’re coming out of a two-year pandemic, where many people may have postponed their travel plans,” Jenkins said. “And now with cases declining, there’s a big eagerness to return to some sense of normalcy. So in many cases, what you’re going to see is people still wanting to travel and get out there. But with gas prices being so high, it’s likely that many of them will maybe drive a shorter distance.”
But time will tell whether or not that means smaller crowds at Central Florida’s beaches and theme parks.
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