Harpers Ferry visitors traipse up and down High Street by both foot and motor vehicle Wednesday afternoon. Many summer vacationers are travelling shorter distances by car because of the rising price of gas. (Journal photo by Ron Agnir)


CHARLES TOWN - At least one area tourist destination has seen an increase in business this summer thanks to rising gas prices, while other destinations say visitor numbers have become stagnant.

The number of visitors at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park is up 5.1 percent over last year, with June alone seeing an increase of 1.5 percent over the same time period last year.

Those numbers, said park spokeswoman Marsha Wassel, reflect travelers' newfound desire to stay closer to home when they go on vacation, to help combat rising energy costs and decreased disposable income.

This tourism trend is being referred to as "staycationing" as opposed to vacationing. And according to Wassel, it has "definitely been a boon to us, to the local economy." Instead of heading to the airport or packing up the car for long-distance road trips, she said, tourists are asking themselves this summer, "What can I see and do in the area, or within a tankful of gas?"

She said travelers are rediscovering their area pools, visiting area parks and heading to destinations like Harpers Ferry, which is a short drive from major metropolitan areas like Washington, D.C., and Baltimore.

And as the desire to find closer destinations has increased, Wassel said, the park has received attention from a variety of media outlets. Harpers Ferry has been featured in publications in Washington and Pennsylvania recently as a close-to-home destination to consider, she said.

Even those who live farther away, in states like Massachusetts, are now looking at the area in a way they may not have done in years past.

Susan Darling and Marco Bisaccia, who visited Harpers Ferry this week while on vacation in the Eastern Panhandle from Massachusetts, said that this was the case for them.

"We considered going farther," Bisaccia said. The couple thought about flying and heading to other destinations, but the costs were "insane" and "absurd."

As a teacher, he has summers off and used to travel more. Now, they said they're driving less even when they're at home. And when it came time for vacation, they said they wanted to go someplace that might be closer to home and a little less expensive than the normal tourist stops.

Even once they had picked their destination, though, Darling said they made sure to put limits on what they could spend, a path they said they hadn't taken in years past.

"We actually have a budget for our vacation," she said.

That decrease in disposable income is something that has affected nearby Charles Town Races & Slots.

The gaming facility brings in the bulk of the county's tourists, said Paulette Sprinkle of the Jefferson County Convention and Visitors Bureau. Of the nearly 5 million visitors who came to the county last year, 4.4 million went to Charles Town Races & Slots, she said.

The facility tracks the number of visitors it receives, with officials there saying numbers seem to be holding relatively steady.

"We're actually fairly flat from a visitor standpoint," said General Manager Al Britton.

Nearly 2.2 million people visited the racetrack and casino during the first half of 2007, he said. Numbers for this year are "just under" that level, he said.

Also down is the amount of money visitors seem to be willing to spend at the track and gaming center, he added. Per-visitor spending at the facility has decreased over last year's rate, he said.

The dip is one that is being seen throughout much of the gaming industry, something which Britton says is unique to the current economic climate.

"The gaming industry has been relatively recession-resistant in the past," he said.

But with gas prices up, food costs high and the housing market down, Britton said things could be worse.

"We're pretty lucky we're just flat," he said.

Still, he noted that the situation could have been different. West Virginia's Northern Panhandle, which voted in favor of a table gaming referendum in 2006, is seeing increases in gaming at its facilities.

Had Jefferson County residents also supported the addition of table games, he said travelers from the region who head to Atlantic City may have stayed closer to home and played in Charles Town instead.

"A lot of those folks (who go to Atlantic City), particularly now with gas prices, would have opted to stay local," Britton said.

- Staff writer Naomi Smoot can be reached at (304) 725-6581 or at nsmoot@journal-news.net

Well, it makes sense that we'd see an increase. We're so close to Baltimore and Washington, but yet it's like going into another world, and that makes it a wonderful getaway, wether it's for the day, or for overnight.

I grew up living in Laurel MD, and to come out to Harpers Ferry for the day was an amazing change, considering I didn't live that far away.

When I was working in Harpers Ferry, the city people were always in awe that such a pretty place was so close to the city.

That's a real pretty area up there. I'll have to check out the state park sometime, if I ever make it back up that way.

We had a lot of Boy Scout weekends up there. Lovely country.