AAA Expects Labor Day Travel Increase

Labor Day weekend travel in the U.S. next month will be up nearly 5% from last year even though fuel costs are rising, according to AAA, North America’s largest motoring and leisure travel organization. The group expects 33.7 million Americans to travel 100 miles or more from home from Friday evening, Sept. 1, through the following Monday night. The increase in holiday travel will come with the national average price for regular gasoline now at $1.49 a gallon, up about 23 cents, or 18%, from last year, when there were 32.2 million travelers, AAA said. About 28.3 million travelers, or about 84%, are expected to travel by automobile, the group said. The number of people going by air, bus, rail or ship is projected at 5.4 million, little changed from last year. AAA based its Labor Day projections on a national survey of 1,500 adults by the Travel Industry Assn. A record 34.9 million Americans traveled during the 1997 Labor Day weekend.