With Millions Expected In Washington For Jan. 20, Residents Temporarily Flee Area

January 7, 2009 5:37 a.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - While millions of Americans are expected to jostle for choice spots on Jan. 20 for the historic inaugural of the first black U.S. president, some residents of Washington are temporarily fleeing the area away from the maddening crowds.

Tour agencies are grabbing the business opportunities the situation offers by coming up with affordable escape inauguration tour packages. Among those making the most of the desire of district residents to be away during the Jan. 20 week are a ski resort in West Virginia and hotels on Florida's Amelia Island which are offering discounted tours to residents of the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia.

A 20 percent DC Escape discount waits district area residents for the period Jan. 18 to 22, said Richard Goldman, chief marketing officer of Amelia Island Plantation.

Dawn Smith from Fairfax Station and one of those mulling leaving the area during the inaugural week said she was a teenager when the 1984 Summer Olympics was held in Los Angeles. She witnessed the chaos in the city and did not want her four children to go through the same experience. But Smith stressed she supports Barack Obama and recognizes the historic significance of the event.

"This is historic. This is something we really want to pat of. Then reality set in... I'm a parent now and feel like we can be part of the excitement and part of the spirit from a distance," Smith told Washington Post. She added, "We don't actually have to be there... I just don't want to be in town at this point."

To save on accommodation cost, Smith plans to swap places with a family who wants to be in Washington. She advertised a house swap on a Web site and is waiting for a match.

If the swap will push through Smith could view instead the inauguration rites from televised broadcasts since at least a dozen networks plan to telecast the proceedings from Washington. Also expected to benefit from the expected extensive coverage of the event are residents of other states who could not afford the cost or could no longer be accommodated.

Aside from major news networks like CNN, ABC, NBC and CBS News, also gearing up for the coverage of Obama's swearing in ceremony as America's 44th and first black president are stations new to political coverage like BET, MTV, Nickelodeon and shopping channel QVC.