Tourists flocking to Seattle, but spending less

Waiters are getting stiffed on tips. Hoteliers are dispensing advice about bus routes, and weight-phobic tourists are balking at souvenirs that tip the scales.

The economy may be tanking, and gas prices may be surging like a Texas gusher, but the tourist hordes are still making their way to the Seattle area this summer.

Yet an unusual convergence of factors is changing the way people travel in the Northwest. The weak dollar, record-high fuel prices and airline surcharges on checked luggage have combined with Seattle's recent wacky weather to create challenges for local businesses.

Take, for instance, the shrinking tips at Ray's Boathouse.

Diners at the Ballard tourist magnet aren't being parsimonious (at least not all of them). Many are European and Japanese visitors lured stateside by fantastic exchange rates -- but unfamiliar with the American custom of an "optional" gratuity.

With the slumping U.S. dollar unlikely to rebound any time soon, Ray's management decided to intervene. The restaurant plans to slip tipping reminders printed in French, Italian, Japanese, Spanish and English into patrons' checks starting as early as this week.

"We're concerned about our crew," said Maureen "Mo" Shaw, Ray's general manager. "A lot of European travelers don't tip."

Throngs of summer visitors -- with or without accents -- should soon be arriving in Seattle in earnest.

Hotel bookings for events at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center, which are made far in advance, are up 30 percent over last summer. A record 435,000 cruise passengers, some of them drawn by faster ships sailing to Alaska, are sailing out of the Port of Seattle this season, which runs from April to October. And despite Americans' steadily darkening financial outlook, leisure travel seemingly remains a birthright that few are willing to forgo outright.

Overnight visitors to King County spent a record $4.75 billion in 2006, according to Seattle's Convention and Visitors Bureau. They likely spent more in 2007, though final numbers aren't available, said Dave Blanford, a spokesman for the visitors bureau. But the U.S. economy has taken an even worse pummeling since then. Blanford said it's too early to predict how 2008 will shape up. But signs abound that visitors aren't opening their wallets as wide as before.

Made in Washington stores, for instance, are doing brisk sales in greeting cards while heavier, pricier merchandise such as blown-glass vases, wines and food gift baskets languish on shelves.

Ever since many airlines began charging extra for checked bags earlier this year, fliers have become averse to anything but feather-light souvenirs, said Christine Quetola, who manages the Pike Place Market location.

To help shoppers get over their hesitation, all five Made in Washington stores are running a first-ever flat shipping promotion of $4.99.

"They can buy the whole store and we'll ship it for $4.99," Quetola said, hastening to add, "to one address." (Shipping to Alaska or Hawaii costs $9.99.)

The stores lose money on the shipping charges, Quetola said, and they may pull the promotion soon if extra sales don't justify it.

Seattle's unusually cool spring hasn't helped business, either. At Ray's, traffic slowed, and the average lunch check in the upstairs cafe fell by $2, Shaw said.

Plans go in the tank

For some travelers, the gulp-inducing price of gas -- up an average of $1.30 a gallon in the state in just 12 months -- is forcing them to rethink their destinations.

The K-Diamond-K Guest Ranch in Republic, near the Canadian border in Eastern Washington's Ferry County, has taken several cancellations from guests who did the new arithmetic on driving 600 miles round-trip from Seattle ($85 for fuel in a 2007 Toyota Camry, according to AAA).

The dude ranch just built a new lodge and has eight rooms open, double its previous capacity, said Jennifer Konz, who with her husband, Dave, manages the business that his parents founded in 1961. The family has eight more rooms under construction. But rooms are filling slowly, with vacancies even now for July and August, typically the busiest period.

"The price of gas is really affecting people this year," Konz said. "People really have to think twice about where they go and what they're going to do."

Still, the majority of Americans who had driving trips planned for this summer say higher gas prices won't prompt them to change their itineraries, according to a survey co-authored by the American Travel Industry. The rest said they would, among other options, stick closer to home, cut back on meals, shopping and entertainment, shorten their vacations or cancel trips.

Making trade-offs

Travelers looking for more affordable lodging helped drive up bookings at www.seattlebedandbreakfast.com by 10 percent this year, said Betsy Morris, reservations manager. The site represents about 175 B&Bs and hotels in Washington, from Bellingham to Leavenworth, and has rooms for as little as $60 a night, breakfast included.

What's more, Morris said, more out-of-town guests are ditching rental cars and opting for buses and ferries.

That's the kind of trade-off that more Americans will make to sate their appetite for travel, said Henry Harteveldt, a travel analyst with Forrester Research, a market-research firm based in Cambridge, Mass.

In May, a report by Harteveldt found that U.S. travelers have grown markedly pessimistic about their own and the country's economic outlook compared with just five months ago. Almost 30 percent of the 4,488 people surveyed said they intended to cut back their travel spending this year. Harteveldt believes that some of their new habits -- from downgrading hotels to taking shorter vacations -- may become permanent.

"What happens if gas is $8 a gallon?" as some analysts predict, Harteveldt asked. "We are starting to understand that this is real. We are going to have to change as consumers."

Harteveldt expects Seattle's scenic attractions and good restaurants and hotels to help keep it competitive for travel dollars. Moreover, leisure trips are seen as an inalienable right by many Americans, Harteveldt said. And even double-digit gas prices might not be enough to keep them home.

"People will find creative ways to satisfy their wanderlust," Harteveldt said. "They'll say, 'Guess what? Instead of going to Paris, let's go explore Eastern Washington.' "

Kyung Song: 206-464-2423 or ksong@seattletimes.com. Seattle Times researchers Gene Balk and David Turim contributed to this story.