12 News
More families are trying "Staycations"
Send us your staycation photos
Instead of heading to the mountains or the beaches, thousands of Valley residents are cooling their heels near home this weekend. They are joining the "staycation" trend.
During their staycations, families plan vacation-type activities, while remaining at home or a nearby hotel.
Many say they altered their plans because of gas prices. Others say they are short on cash because of dropping stock prices or the crashing housing market.
Rose and Roger Fleenor decided to forgo a trip to their family cabin near Payson. They're staying three nights at the Clarendon Hotel in Phoenix instead. It's just five minutes from their house.
"At the cabin we probably would have stayed all weekend," Rose Fleenor says, "but it probably would have been three times as much to go up to the cabin."
"I'd say about half of the people who are coming on the weekends are local," says Clarendon Hotel owner, Ben Bethel.
It's unclear exactly how many people switched plans from vacations to staycations. A recent AAA poll shows about 40 million Americans would travel for the 4th of July holiday. That's down 1.3 percent from last year.
Other travel-related costs are also on the rise this Independence Day. According to AAA's Leisure Travel Index, the average flight costs 13 percent more and rental cars cost about 12 percent more than last year.
