In vogue: family vacations on a budget

But she was surprised by another unusual event this year: cancellations on the Fourth of July, which has rarely, if ever, happened before.

"It was because their hometowns were celebrating the Fourth and they hadn't done it before. Churches were putting on functions, and people wanted to stay home for them," says Ms. Burpee. "There was also some fear about terrorism."

That's also been a factor in prompting many more people to get behind the wheel, rather than take to the skies. According to Massachusetts's Mr. Sacco, the average family trip by car used to be about four to five hours. Now, people are willing to drive eight to 10 hours to get their vacation spot.

The Benson family from Arkansas went even further than that to avoid flying. They drove 18 hours to get to south Florida so they could, among other things, catch a glimpse of Lolita the killer whale at the Miami Seaquarium. "We postponed our trip this year, but finally decided not to let our fears spoil our fun," says Virginia Benson, boosting her youngest daughter up on her shoulders.

Like most other vacation hot spots around the country, Florida posted a 4 percent decline in tourists last year, according to Visit Florida, the state's official tourism marketing corporation. From January to April of this year, revenues were down 3 percent compared with the same period in 2001.

"There are four factors that are preventing us from rebounding," says Rena Callahan of Walt Disney World. "Uncertainty of world events, an economic downturn, lack of consumer confidence, and security concerns." But Florida tourist officials are optimistic that visitor traffic will rebound by the fall.

Tourist traffic is also off at some of the nation's parks, such as Yellowstone, predominately because of a huge drop in visitors from Asia and Europe. That's a result of the sagging international economy and fears about terrorism.

But there are signs that things are beginning to pick up in some states. Idaho, for example, which measures its tourist traffic by how much revenue its room tax generates, had been down since last year. But the state, which touts "Great Potatoes, Tasty Destinations," registered a surprising 6.5 percent increase in July compared with the same period last year.

"We were happy about that," says Ron Gardner of the Idaho Department of Commerce's Tourism Development Division. "We're getting a lot of families who are driving in from nearby states."

They're packing places like the Water's Edge, an RV resort nestled next to the Payette River in a mountain valley. Last year, Katrin Thompson and her husband added 25 new sites to their 100-site RV park. Sometimes they sat empty. But this year, the Thompsons have had to turn people away, especially on weekends.

"It just kills me to do it," says Ms. Thompson. "But when you're full, you're full. It's not fair to the people who reserved long in advance to just stack people anywhere."

Things are going so well, in fact, that the Thompsons have decided to take a big risk and build a little hotel nearby.

There are even signs of hope at the Drake Hotel in San Francisco. Doorman Sweeney, who has worked there 25 years, says the past few months had been the slowest he has ever seen in any recession. It was so bad that it was easy to catch a cable car, which is usually a challenge at the height of summer.

But now, lines are beginning to form again at the corner. "I've seen tourism picking up in the last month, so that's been a good sign," he says. "September and October are usually our best months, so we're hoping for a second-half recovery here."

• Elizabeth Armstrong in San Francisco and Jennifer LeClaire in Miami contributed to this report.

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