Bruce Grindy is the National Restaurant Association's senior economist Check out Bruce's past articles.

Rising gas prices don't appear to be discouraging summer travelers.

As summer temperatures rise, so have prices at the pump.

The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline hit a record high (not adjusted for inflation) of $2.33 the week of July 11 -- up 10 cents from the previous week. This marked the sixth consecutive week of increasing prices, according to data from the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA), a branch of the Department of Energy.

In fact, pump prices have risen 23 cents a gallon since the week of May 30, when they had appeared to be on a downward trend.

On a regional level, prices remain strongest on the West Coast, where a gallon of regular gas averaged $2.48 -- led by California, where the per-gallon price averaged $2.52 the week of July 11. In contrast, prices on the Gulf Coast were relatively cheaper, averaging $2.24 that week. However, Gulf Coast prices were among the largest gainers recently, jumping 12 cents in the last week alone.

Average retail price per gallon of regular gasoline, including taxes

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration

As a result of the recent spike in pump prices, the EIA bumped up its projection for gas prices during the April-to-September summer driving season. The EIA is now projecting that pump prices will average $2.25 for a gallon of regular gas during the 2005 summer season, or about 35 cents higher than the average during the 2004 summer driving season.

No slowdown in summer travel

So do these soaring pump prices have a negative impact on summer travel? According to an analysis by the EIA, the impact on a typical family vacation is not as significant as one might expect.

Take a family vacation where the total round trip is 500 miles, representing about a four- to five-hour trip each way. If the family's vehicle gets 20 miles per gallon on the highway, a 40-cent increase in gas prices would add only an additional $10 to the 500-mile trip.

So while the sharp rise in gas prices could certainly take a larger toll over the long term, it doesn’t appear to be much of a deterrent for the family’s summer car trip to the mountains or the beach, says the EIA.

In the short term, the EIA appears to be correct. The American Automobile Association had projected record travel levels over the July 4th weekend, and it appears that consumers did indeed hit the roads. Demand for gasoline set a weekly record for the week that ended July 1, with demand for gas reaching 9.7 million barrels a day that week before easing off a bit the following week to 9.4 million barrels a day.

In addition, the Travel Industry Association of America has forecast a record-breaking summer of leisure travel, with 328 million person-trips expected during June, July and August.

All this is good news for the restaurant industry, as restaurants in most regions of the country enjoy their strongest sales during the summer months.

To be sure, restaurants have already ramped up for another summer of strong customer traffic. Restaurants and bars employed a record 9.3 million individuals in June, or more than 250,000 jobs above their June 2004 employment level.

The National Restaurant Association’s annual Eating-and-Drinking-Place Summer Employment Forecast projects that the nation's restaurants and bars will add an additional 408,000 jobs during the 2005 summer season, which would represent the strongest summer hiring spree since 2001, and the second-strongest summer-hiring forecast for the restaurant industry on record.

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