Will airports be less crowded this summer?

It was just a couple months ago that the travel industry was celebrating the beginning of the end of the recession. Hotels reported rising occupancy rates and predicted they’d soon be able to raise their prices, heading toward pre-recession levels. Even companies that catered to the leisure traveler were finally seeing the signs of growth that their counterparts in the business travel sector had enjoyed last year.

Travel, it seemed, was on the rebound.

But now, oil is more than $100 a barrel, and gas prices are climbing in response. Will that hinder the travel industry’s comeback in 2011?

Although airlines have been steadily raising rates this year and recently upped their baggage fees again, many experts predict that the industry’s most valuable client—the business traveler—will still take to the skies in 2011.

The Global Business Travel Association predicts that business travel will remain steady even if oil prices pass $125 per barrel. The availability of hotel discounts once travelers arrive at their destination is thought to play a role in continued business travel despite the increased cost of airfare.

Leisure travel, however, may see a shift.

Instead of buying an airplane ticket, consumers who have foregone travel during the recession may opt to take their vacations within driving distance. Although rising gas prices will impact the cost of a road trip, a destination within driving distance is still likely to be less expensive to reach than one that requires  a cross-country plane ride.

The good news for hotels and other companies in the hospitality industry is that people want to travel now that their incomes are recovering, they just might not be willing to travel as far as they would before oil and gas prices started climbing.

Photo by Britt Reints