Gas prices are rising in Durango just as summer tourism heats up.
Average retail gasoline is up 7 cents just in the last week and 17 cents in the last month, according to AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report.
Regular gasoline averaged $3.585 per gallon Thursday in Durango. That still was below the national average, $3.675.
Gas prices are expected to stay high as refineries struggle to keep up with summer demand, AAA said.
Stations were busy with drivers filling up Thursday. Everyday gas station, at College Drive and East Eighth Ave., appeared to be the cheapest in town at $3.519 for regular. Most stations were charging $3.589 or $3.599.
Anita Durrschmidt, a lab technician at Mercy Regional Medical Center, was filling her Hyundai SUV at Peerless Tyre Co., 1990 Main Ave. Durrschmidt said she’s driving less these days, often taking the bus. She also carpools to work from the Animas City area with a friend.
Durrschmidt lamented the higher prices.
“I wish they’d come down,” she said.
Gas, nationally, is up about 3 cents per gallon in the last week. AAA blamed the rising prices on instability in Iraq, where Sunni insurgents are challenging the government of Nouri al-Maliki. Iraq is the second-largest crude oil producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC.
Local tourism appears to be unaffected thus far.
“I have not heard a peep, and it has not affected us at all,” said Bruce Moss, co-owner of Gateway Reservations in Durango. “We have been slammed busy. It’s been nice. It seems like it’s almost back to where it used to be (before the recession).”
Visitors have disposable income, and they’re using it on features like high-end tickets to the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. Tourists are snapping up the railroad’s $189 seats for the “Presidential Class” Cinco Animas car, Moss said.
City sales-tax receipts are looking up. Though a lagging indicator, receipts grew 5.6 percent for the year through May. Lodger’s-tax receipts, an indicator of hotel stays, jumped even more dramatically, 15.6 percent.
cslothower@durangoherald.com
