Nationwide, the tourism industry is preparing for a difficult year as the weak economy and high gas prices cut into the ability to travel and spend.

This spring, only 39.6 percent of Americans said they'd take a vacation during the next six months, the lowest percentage since the 39.4 percent intending to vacation in 1978, a spokeswoman for the Conference Board said recently.

But one of the factors - record gas prices - might not be so bad for tourist destinations in southern New Jersey.

The economy is cutting into people's discretionary income, according to economist Richard Perniciaro, "but the big question is: What will gas prices do to tourism?

"I have found in fact that they have been fairly good for this area, with people tending to come to the shore and take a few hours' drive rather than go farther away," said Perniciaro, who is also dean of administration and planning at Atlantic Cape Community College. "Most of our clientele comes from Philadelphia and northern New Jersey."

John Siciliano, executive director of the Greater Wildwoods Tourism Improvement and Development Authority, sees the season ahead in much the same way.

He said the crummy economy is absolutely a factor in reducing the disposable income people can spend on vacation. He thinks it may reduce the length of stays or how many times people visit the Wildwoods.

"But people will still come on vacation. They still fill up their cars to go to work, and they will still fill up to play," Siciliano said. "And we're pretty much a tank of gas away from a major portion of the population in the country."

People in the hotel industry have told him that reservations for July and August look pretty good, he said.

And even though the island since 2002 has reduced its number of hotel rooms by nearly 3,500 to about 8,000 - still the second-highest concentration in New Jersey - room rental numbers have held steady.

Elsewhere in the country, tourist attractions are already struggling.

Madame Tussauds opened a new wax museum in Washington, D.C., last fall, featuring likenesses of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton among many others. But crowds dwindled after the opening, and Madame Tussauds is cutting prices.

It might be helped by the foreign visitors typically attracted to New York and Wash-

ington, especially now that the dollar is weak and makes their home currencies worth more here.

On the other side of that equation, however, Americans overseas are finding their dollars don't buy much. Word gets back to the states and people plan fewer, shorter, less-expensive trips.

"If you traveled a lot in the years from, say, 1996 to 2005 or so, you were constantly aware of your dollars' buying power and the economic advantage you had almost everywhere as an American," said Tom Bissell, an American writer visiting Paris. "Today, you feel like a pauper from some tiny, impoverished banana republic. You find yourself literally laughing out loud in restaurants to keep from bursting into tears."

A recent Rand McNally survey says two-thirds of Americans planning road trips this summer are either altering their plans to shorten their trips or canceling altogether. AAA predicted the number of Americans planning to drive more than 50 miles over Memorial Day weekend is down by 1 percent. Air travel will decline slightly as well, AAA said.

Reduced travel also should help Atlantic City, which is much closer to its customers than rival Nevada.

In the casino capital of Las Vegas, things already are tough.

Room occupancy rates have fallen slightly, forcing casinos to lower hotel room prices. Gambling giant MGM Mirage Inc. and local casino operator Station Casinos have cut their work forces. Las Vegas Sands, which opened a massive new casino on the Strip in January, unexpectedly swung to a loss of $11.2 million in the first quarter of the year.

Analysts expect the slowdown to be most dramatic at mid-market Las Vegas resorts that rely on tourists driving in from southern California. Those tourists already began staying away in the early part of the year, before gas prices rose again.

In Rehoboth Beach, Del., innkeepers are advertising free gas cards with a reservation or an extra night for free, hoping to soothe tourists' concerns about gas prices.

Wildwoods tourism businesses may not need such gimmicks to have an OK or better year. Siciliano said they have something else going for them: Canadians.

The Wildwoods have been a major marketing presence in Canada this year and now have a tourist information site that is entirely in French.

"This summer we'll probably see more Canadian visitors than in many years prior, if only because their dollar is pretty much at parity with the American dollar," he said. "We've already seen a pretty good spike in hits on the Web site and requests from the Canadian market."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.