Few businesses are excited about the rise in fuel prices. With a gallon of gas almost 50 cents higher than this time last year, virtually no venture is safe from taking a hit as costs of delivery, transportation and the running of equipment add up quickly.

One exception may be local tourism.

As summer approaches and gasoline prices increase, people may be planning vacations closer to home than typical, and that could mean more travel dollars spent locally.

“It’s certainly not a positive thing for fuel prices to be rising. However, we’re very fortunate that the gas price issue alone hasn’t made a big impact in the local travel industry,” said Jonathan Dorsey, with the Carrollton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. “We serve a tourism market that is mostly from other parts of Georgia and they’re within reasonable driving distance to us.”

From east Alabama to Atlanta, Carroll County provides a close location in which to relax without worrying about the cost of traveling.

People will be less likely to buy plane tickets for a trip and more likely to fill a gas tank, Dorsey said. Since the county is not a huge attraction to international audiences, the change in vacation plans should not have a big impact on the area.

“Higher fuel prices are not a good thing. It stresses the whole system, but for tourism locally there is a silver lining,” he said.

He said people looking for vacation locations will be likely to remain close to home, looking for state and county parks and other attractions nearby that are not extremely expensive. With the variety of restaurants, parks and activities in the area for reasonable prices, the area is attractive to the typical tourist.

The gasoline prices are forcing some businesses to make tough decisions. Restaurants, for example, will see the added cost of transporting supplies into the cost of the food and supplied they purchase. With increasing fuel charges, each restaurant will have to decide if it wants to make less profit or pass the cost on to the customer.

Some tourism, like the traveling associated with recreation tournaments, will occur regardless of gasoline prices. Dorsey said children will continue to go to swim meets and ball games and parents will continue to take them.

“If fuel prices were drastically higher than they are now, we might be talking about a different impact on visitation,” he said. “Right now, we’re doing pretty well compared to years past.”

Trudy Crunkleton, parks director at John Tanner State Park, thinks the number of local people coming to the park will increase this year as gas prices increase and people choose to stay closer to home.

“It’s expensive to fill the big campers with fuel,” she said. “We may not be seeing people traveling from as far away.”

With the recent warm weather, the park has had some record weekends and Crunkleton said she hopes the early success this year is an indication of how busy the park will be this summer.

“We already have reservations from people coming from Florida – that’s a little unusual,” she said.

A few days ago, a group camped for several days on their way to the Grand Canyon.

Typically, the majority of campers come from the surrounding counties, within a two-hour drive, but Crunkleton hopes to see an increase in people from Atlanta visiting the area.

People can camp, hike, swim or rent boats, but there are no gasoline-powered boats allowed on the lake, she said.

Peter Maierhofer, superintendent of athletics/aquatics at Carroll County Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts Department, said he doesn’t think increasing gasoline prices are going to impact boating on Lake Carroll at all.

“We’re right on par with boating permits compared to the past few years,” he said. “I think the people who do those activities are going to keep doing them.”

Between the economy and gas prices, Maierhofer said he has seen a 10 percent increase in people purchasing passes for the local pools and water park. He thinks the increase seen in the past few years is a result of the economy and gas prices.

“It’s an inexpensive way to cool off on the hot days” and take a break without taking a vacation, he said.

He has also seen an increase in the number of students participating in the baseball and softball programs, rather than traveling programs. Parents don’t want to drive when a similar program is located locally.

“If they can find an opportunity and it’s inexpensive, they’ll do that (instead of traveling),” he said.

While few students have been registered this early for the variety of camps offered by the department during the summer, Maierhofer said he expects registration to be good.

“They’re inexpensive and fun,” said.

From sports to cultural arts camps, parents have plenty to choose from without needing to leave the city.