By IAN HILL

By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The slumping economy and rising cost of gas apparently won't stop blue-collar families from taking weekend road trips this summer.
But it may prevent some of those families from buying package tours to Las Vegas.
Local travel agents said that even though the state of the economy has slowed sales of their less-expensive tour packages, people are still planning road trips for the summer.
"It's something people have worked hard for, and they feel they deserve it," said Brian Newbacher, the director of public affairs for AAA's Northeast Ohio headquarters in Independence.
Newbacher also said he felt people will be considering the cost of gas when they decide how far they want to travel for their vacation. This summer vacationers are likely to take three-day road trips to destinations like Niagara Falls and Hershey, Pa., he said.
Sarah Bustamante, a spokesperson for Enterprise Rent-a-Car, added that fewer people are renting sport utility vehicles and cars with low gas mileage for their vacations.
Yet neither Bustamante nor Paula Stifter, a spokesperson for Hertz Rent-a-Car, said that they have experienced a drop-off in summer car rental due to high gas costs.
Mary Ann Dwyer, owner of Tippecanoe Travel Service in Youngstown, also said that people are still planning weekend road trips for this summer. She said some of her customers are not pleased with the gas increases, however.
"They have some negative things to say," she said.
What's dropped: Vicki Stankewich, owner of Howland Travel Inc. in Warren, said her sales of less-expensive trips to destinations like Mexico and Las Vegas have decreased slightly due to the economy.
Tom Petzinger, chairman of Pan Atlas Travel Service in Youngstown, also said sales of cheaper tour packages have dropped slightly. Yet Petzinger also said his business has not been affected by the decrease as the sales of more expensive tour packages to Europe and other exotic destinations has remained steady.
"In the quality stuff, we haven't seen much reduction at all," Petzinger said.
A representative for Carlson Wagonlit Travel in Youngstown also said it has not been affected by the economy's slowdown.
A search of the U.S. Tour Operator's Association Internet site found the average cost of a vacation in Las Vegas was about $1,000. The average cost of a vacation in Europe was $2,500.
Advantage: Tom Cowan, AAA's director of travel service operations for Northeast Ohio, agreed that there is "some softness" in the market for less-expensive trips this summer.
He added, however, that the economy could be a blessing in disguise for some local residents.
Cowan said that due to the slowdown, fewer business travelers are buying airline tickets for "off-peak" hours. As a result, Cowan said, families may find that tickets for flights during those hours are cheaper.