What is Labor Day

What is Labor Day

Labor Day weekend for the first time in six years. Middleton, a commercial real estate manager, said she and her husband and their two children will swim at the neighborhood pool, fire up the grill and, possibly, go bowling. A year ago, the family spent $2,500 at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. This Labor Day, traditionally the last travel weekend of summer in the U.S., more people will opt for so-called staycations. AAA, the largest U.S. motoring organization, predicts weekend travel will tumble 13 percent from last year, a decline compounded by the fact that Labor Day falls almost a week later than it did last year and many children have already returned to school. Those who do go away are shortening trips and seeking out discount hotel rates and airfares. “There will be some good deals out there that may cushion occupancy, but it will be a tough weekend in comparison to other years,” William Marks, a hotel and real estate analyst at JMP Securities LLC in San Francisco, said in an interview Sept. 1.

Middleton, 45, went back to work this year, feeling lucky to have gotten a job in the worst U.S. recession since the Great Depression. It made taking a vacation less convenient. Her family went to seaside once this summer, down from two or three trips in recent years, she said. “With the hotel costs and the gas costs, we decided we’d be better off to have a staycation this year,” Middleton said. “We just don’t have the money this year.” The U.S. has lost 6.7 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007, the most of any economic slump since the Great Depression. Unemployment may have risen to 9.5 percent in August from 9.4 percent in July, according to economists in a Bloomberg survey. The Labor Department reports jobless figures today. “People are taking a very close look at their disposable income, and often one of the things they cut back on is leisure travel,” Genevieve Shaw Brown, a senior editor at Travelocity.com Inc., said in a Sept. 1 interview from New York.

Fewer travelers mean cheaper flights and hotel rooms. The average U.S. airfare for Labor Day weekend travel is 16 percent lower, at $286, than a year ago, according to Travelocity, the Southlake, Texas-based online travel agency. Fare decreases of 23 percent on departures from Boston, 19 percent from Denver and 18 percent from Seattle are the sharpest among the 10 biggest U.S. origination markets, based on tickets booked on Travelocity by July 26 for travel Sept. 3 through Sept. 8. Fares on flights from New York dropped 17 percent to an average price of $394, Travelocity said. The average cost of flying to the Big Apple is $270, 20 percent less than last year. Discount-hungry travelers have proved a boon to online providers of plane tickets and lodging. Expedia Inc.’s shares have more than doubled this year on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Priceline.com Inc. has also more than doubled. Orbitz Worldwide Inc. has climbed 51 percent on the New York Stock Exchange. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index has climbed 11 percent in the same period.