High gas prices may be a boon or a hindrance to your business this summer. As many as 72 percent of those planning to take a road trip this summer said that gas prices were affecting their travel plans. Nearly one in 10 said they plan to cancel trips altogether to avoid paying the high price for gas.

Keeping people near home is great if your business is within easy distance. If you are close, but still a short distance, run promotions to draw people to you by promoting what you have to offer, letting people know they won’t miss those traditional vacation spots. Encourage people to start new vacation traditions. Choose traffic builders and giveaways that follow that theme or play off of a gas saving theme. Use a small but catchy imprinted product in direct mail to get people's attention. It just might be that they were on the fence and your promotion might help them make the decision they want to make, which is to stay close to home.

If you are in one of the destinations that people are considering canceling on this year, promote the worth of getting there; the experience they can't get anywhere else. Create an event they won't want to miss. This is the year to go all out. To do something you wouldn’t normally do. Offer big incentive products for long travelers or switch your focus and go for local business. Even if yours is a hotel business, promote to locals. If they aren't traveling away either, they still will want to get away into a vacation atmosphere. If it's just across town that's not much gas.