High gas prices drive renewed interest in Wisconsin resorts

Longtime Lake Geneva restaurant owner Spyro Condos huddled recently with a roomful of fellow business owners sharing their fears that soaring inflation rates and spiking gas prices could add up to a summer of discontent for the local tourism industry.

A Lake Geneva native, former mayor and third generation restaurateur, Condos, 68, said he understands their concerns. After all, the cost of food and supplies to stock his restaurant, Speedo’s Harborside Pub & Grill, has skyrocketed 30% in recent months, making it tougher to turn a profit.

But after more than four decades in the restaurant business, Condos said he is certain the economic storms that have arrived this summer will reveal a silver lining for the Wisconsin resort community, just across the border from Illinois.

“I told them, ‘my prediction is we’re going to have the best summer ever in Lake Geneva, because of our proximity to Chicago, and with gas prices so high, and problems with the airlines, many people are just not going to want to travel that far this summer,’ ” Condos said.

From small business owners like Condos to the operators of resorts and water parks with multimillion dollar budgets, pent-up demand from Chicago-area travelers who paused their vacation plans during the first two summers of the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to lead to a stellar summer for the tourism industry.

[ CHART: See how gas prices in Illinois compare to other states ]

With gas prices spiking to $6 a gallon, spiraling inflation ratcheting up the cost of everything from groceries to garden supplies, and steep worker shortages across the U.S., travelers and tourism businesses in Illinois and adjacent states will also be navigating a trifecta of challenges this summer.

Still, the economic hardships, albeit significant, have in many ways been a boon for sectors of the local tourism industry that are benefiting from the sticker shock that has rerouted budget-conscious travelers away from far-flung destinations, and led them back to old-timey road trips closer to home.

“With gas prices so high, what we’re seeing is an uptick in business this summer from families and couples who still want to vacation together, but realize they can drive a much shorter distance and still get a beautiful escape,” said Dave Sekeres, general manager at Lake Lawn Resort in Delavan, Wisconsin, and the chairman of Visit Lake Geneva.

Formerly known as Lake Lawn Lodge to legions of families from years past, the historic resort that opened in 1878 has also found a creative solution to the nationwide seasonal employee shortage this summer — hiring nearly three dozen international college students from across the world via the U.S. Department of State’s J-1, Visitor Exchange visa program.

The visiting international students are spending 16 weeks working at Lake Lawn this summer in jobs ranging from food and beverage servers and housekeeping, to customer service and recreation attendants, Sekeres said.

“It would be nearly impossible to operate the resort this summer without these additional workers, and for the students, the fastest way to learn about the U.S. culture and language is working in a vacation destination,” Sekeres said.

“Everything is going fantastic this summer … Our bookings are strong, and not just the weekends and Fourth of July holiday, but midweek, too,” Sekeres said.

Sekeres’ optimistic forecast is supported by a recent AAA report that predicts 47.9 million people will travel 50 miles or more from home over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, beginning Thursday through July 4.

According to AAA, the increase of 3.7% over 2021 will bring “travel volumes just shy of those seen in 2019,” and surprisingly, car travel will “set a new record despite historically high gas prices with 42 million people hitting the road,” officials said.

“The volume of travelers we expect to see over Independence Day is a definite sign that summer travel is kicking into high gear,” Paula Twidale, senior vice president, AAA Travel, said in a statement.

“Earlier this year, we started seeing the demand for travel increase and it’s not tapering off. People are ready for a break and despite things costing more, they are finding ways to still take that much needed vacation,” Twidale said.

Despite national average gas prices topping the $5 mark, AAA officials said car travel is expected to break previous records, suggesting that “recent issues with air travel and ongoing concerns of cancellations and delays may be driving this increase.”

The share of people traveling by air will be the lowest since 2011, officials said.

The surge in popularity of the road trip this summer for Chicago-area residents is evident to Joe Eck, chief operating officer of Wilderness Resorts and Waterparks in the Wisconsin Dells, who said while an increasing number of visitors were already returning to the water park in 2021, so far the summer of 2022 suggests “the local appeal is skyrocketing.”

“It’s getting hot out there, and our phones are ringing off the hook right now,” said Eck, who credits his 450 international students working this summer through the J-1 visa program with ensuring the resorts are fully staffed over the Fourth of July weekend.

Angelica Berrocal Alvarez, a J-1 visa college student from Colombia, said she is spending her second summer working at Wilderness, where she was recently promoted to the role of aquatic supervisor.

“I wanted to get out of my bubble, and do something different,” said Berrocal Alvarez, 23, a civil engineering and geoscience major at the Universidad de Los Andes, whose housing in the Wisconsin Dells is subsidized by the resort.

“I’m actually getting to practice my English, which is getting better, and I can bring those skills back to my country, and I’ll also know a different culture,” Berrocal Alvarez said.

Romy Snyder, president and CEO of the Wisconsin Dells Visitor & Convention Bureau, said the resort community’s proximity to Chicago, Milwaukee and Minneapolis-St. Paul make it a natural choice for families hoping to enjoy vacations closer to home this summer.

Wisconsin Dells, dubbed the “water capital of the world,” gets about 4 million visitors a year, and will rely on about 4,000 J-1 international college students this summer to bolster the ranks of workers at the region’s plethora of resorts and water parks, Snyder said.

“We are predominantly a drive-to destination, and even when we’ve seen gas prices go up over the years, we have not seen that lead to less visits,” Snyder said.

“It’s like the opposite happens — travelers who may have been planning a cross-country trip now see us as a more economical vacation of choice,” Snyder said.

Galena Area Chamber of Commerce Director Barb Hocker said the dining room of the historic DeSoto House Hotel was buzzing with guests attending a meeting Tuesday morning — a day of the week that is typically quiet in the hospitality business.

“We’re having a good summer, but we were also busy the last couple of years during COVID, because people were not flying, and they were looking for an outdoorsy kind of place where they could stay at an Airbnb, away from crowds, and play golf, go horseback riding, hiking, zip-lining and a lot of other activities,” Hocker said.

This summer, Hocker expects tourism in this historic Illinois town roughly three hours northwest of Chicago will “be as good as 2019, if not better.”

“With the high gas prices, we’re blessed with our location, because from towns like Naperville, you can almost get here and back on a full tank of gas,” Hocker said.

Stephanie Klett, president and CEO of Visit Lake Geneva, greeted tourists on a recent morning from the town’s cozy visitors center, where a promotional flyer proclaims: “One-Tank Getaways: Five Ideas For How to Spend Your Summer in Lake Geneva,” citing its proximity to Chicago, 83 miles; Milwaukee, 50 miles; and Rockford, 54 miles.

“We are ironically expecting the best summer on record,” Klett said. “It’s going to be a banner summer, because even with expensive fuel prices, Lake Geneva has become the Newport of the Midwest and the Hamptons of Chicago.”

The summer of 2022 trend of vacationing closer to home was appealing to Rolling Meadows residents Heidi and Mike Brown and their four children ages 14, 12, 10 and 9, who recently spent three days visiting the beach and other attractions in Lake Geneva.

“Last summer, we went to the Bahamas, because we got a great deal, and it was super affordable for us,” Heidi Brown said.

But in recent months, the household budget has been pinched by rising costs, including spending $400 to $600 a week on groceries, she said.

“We knew it was going to be super expensive to fly somewhere, or take a major road trip this summer, and Lake Geneva has been just wonderful,” said Brown.

The family stayed two nights in a suite at The Cove in late June and spent a recent morning frolicking on Lake Geneva’s Riviera Beach — an experience that brought back warm memories of Brown’s childhood trips to the resort community.

“There’s tons of stuff for families to do here, and everything is walkable,” said Brown.

“The kids love getting ice cream at Scoops and Kilwins, and ordering alcohol free pina coladas at The Cove’s pool bar, which makes them feel really special,” she said.

kcullotta@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @kcullotta