Iowa called a vacation bargain

Iowa ranks toward the very bottom of a new national survey — but that’s a good thing. The study ranks the states on the cost of a single day of vacation, rolling in figures like lodging and meals. Dawn Duffy is spokeswomen for Triple-A Iowa, which is releasing the survey.For two adults and two children to vacation for one day in Iowa would cost 179-dollars, on average. That ranks Iowa 46th in the U.S. Kansas was the cheapest at 169-dollars a day. The national average is 235-dollars a day. Hawaii boasts the number-one spot on the survey, where a vacation costs 497-dollars a day. Duffy says the costs of vacationing are down this year, despite the skyrocketing cost of gasoline.Duffy says the lower lodging and dining costs will help offset the higher gas prices. Lodging and dining costs are down a combined four-percent from a year ago, the second-largest drop in the annual vacation survey since Triple-A started it in 1950. Lodging rates nationwide average 125-dollars a night, down nearly six-percent from last year. Meals will cost 110-dollars, down nearly two-percent from 2003. Duffy explains what likely contributed to the drop in lodging costs. She says the economic downturn of the past few years hit the lodging industry hard, so many hotels and motels have dropped rates in hopes of luring in more leisure travelers. Driving to vacation destinations will be more expensive this year, with prices for self serve regular unleaded gasoline currently averaging a dollar-93 per gallon nationwide, up almost 29-percent from the dollar-50 price a year ago. Gas prices in Iowa average a dollar-90. To see the full survey, surf to “www.aaa.com”.