Less travel expected over Fourth of July weekend
Anxiety over the slumping economy will keep more Americans closer to home this Fourth of July weekend, despite gas prices lower than last year’s.
A survey for the American Automobile Assn. released Wednesday predicted that 37.1 million Americans will travel over the holiday weekend, a 1.9% decline from the same weekend in 2008.
Only 5% of those travelers will travel by air. But that represents an increase over last year, primarily because of lower airfares offered by the airlines to encourage travel during tough economic times.
Road travel -- still by far America’s favorite mode of transportation -- is expected to drop to 32.6 million Americans this year from 33.4 million in 2008, according to the survey, conducted by Boston-based IHS Global Insight.
Last year gasoline prices averaged about $1.30 a gallon higher during the Fourth of July weekend than current prices.
But motorists may be pulling back on road trip plans this summer in reaction to gas prices’ creeping up again over the last two months, said Geoff Sundstrom, a spokesman for AAA.
He said the latest numbers reflected America’s continuing anxiety over a weakening economy and high unemployment rates.
“It’s a serious worry of a substantial part of the population,” he said.
The Auto Club of Southern California is expected to release its analysis of holiday travel trends in Southern California next week.
--
