SAN FRANCISCO — Summer travel among CU members often boosts CU credit card balances, but this year twin specters of rising prices and a slowing economy appear to threaten the seasonal windfall.
While data from this summer is still being collected and early surveys, such as one taken and released by Visa, appear relatively optimistic, travel experts say that those surveys often reflect conditional plans which cardholders could change of eliminate before they put them into practice.
"Using a phrase like 'We plan to travel if prices for fuel and tickets don't rise too high' is not the same as saying we have booked a trip to a certain location and we plan to go," observed Mike Pina, director public relations for the American Automobile Association (AAA). But Pina maintained that the association was standing by its forecasts for the summer.
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Visa's survey of international travel intentions was conducted between May 12-22 of 2008 among 1000 U.S. cardholders who had traveled overseas in the last three years. The survey reported that cardholders in May still intended to travel, but not as far, with Canada and Mexico the leading destinations outside the U.S.
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