North Carolina Beach Cottages Sit Empty as New Yorkers Stay Home

[Purveyor]

May 23 (Bloomberg) -- The remoteness of North Carolina's barrier islands is part of their allure for families seeking a quiet beach vacation away from the crowd.

It's also why many people aren't making the trip this year. They can't afford the gasoline to get there.

``It's getting too expensive,'' said Paula Gale, 51, who has rented her house in Topsail Beach for only one week, even after cutting the rate to $895 from $1,015. ``As a general rule, every other license plate we see in the summer is from New York, New Jersey, Ohio or Pennsylvania.''

Beaches from Oak Island to Cape Hatteras are bracing for the first drop in visitors in six years as Memorial Day weekend kicks off the summer vacation season. Even tourists who fly to Raleigh-Durham International Airport face at least a 2 1/2-hour drive to the Atlantic Ocean coast. It's 5 hours to some parts of the Outer Banks, the northern stretch of barrier islands.

``Wherever you come from, you have to drive a long way,'' said Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wachovia Corp. in Charlotte. ``Gas prices are likely to be a problem all through the summer.''

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