More travel expected over Memorial Day

More people will be on the move for the Memorial Day weekend than last year, the American Automobile Association is predicting.
AAA projects 34.9 million people across the country will travel 50 miles or more from home during the Memorial Day holiday weekend. That’s a slight increase, about 100,000 travelers, from the 34.8 million people who traveled one year ago. The Memorial Day holiday travel period is defined as Thursday through Monday.
Approximately 2.1 million New Yorkers will travel this holiday, up from 2.09 million last year. Of those traveling, 1.9 million will be driving, 166,672 will be flying to their destination and 47,402 will be traveling by other mode of transportation.
“Although higher fuel costs are a concern for motorists planning their summer travel vacations, it does not appear to impact the overall vacation decision since it is a relatively small part of the overall travel budget,” said Jim Lehman, an executive vice president, AAA East Central. “Some plan to compensate for the higher fuel costs by cutting other areas of their travel budget such as distance, types of accommodations or length of stay.”
About 30.9 million people plan to drive to their destination, a small decline from the 31 million who drove last year. In spite of gasoline prices more than a dollar per gallon higher than a year ago, automobile travel continues to be the dominant mode of transportation, AAA said.
Almost nine out of 10 holiday travelers (88 percent) will take to the nation’s roadways during the Memorial Day holiday weekend. The national average price for regular gasoline is $3.90, compared to $2.85 during the same time last year.
In Niagara County gas was about $4 a gallon on average this week, up from $2.98 a gallon one year ago. The price of gas has continued to trickle downward as the week has gone on, with some area filling stations dipping below the $4 threshold.
Still, there should be little impact of gasoline prices on travel plans, AAA said.
“They may have changed in some ways, but more people will travel,” Bevi Powell, AAA spokesperson, said.
AAA’s survey of intended travelers found that six out of 10 people said rising gasoline prices would not impact their travel plans. Of the remaining four out of 10 travelers who said rising gas prices would impact their travel plans, 70 percent will economize in other areas and the rest will take a shorter trip or travel by an alternate mode of transportation.
Powell said AAA doesn’t believe the price of gas will go up for the holiday.
Across the country, nearly 2.93 million travelers (8 percent of holiday travelers) will fly during the holiday weekend, an 11.5 percent increase from last year’s 2.63 million air travelers.
AAA said the average distance traveled by Americans during the Memorial Day holiday weekend is expected to be 792 miles, which is 27 percent greater than last year’s average travel distance of 626 miles. Air travel is expected to gain a larger share of overall travel and is likely the cause of a substantial increase in the average travel distance compared to a year ago, AAA said. Median spending is expected to be $692, a decrease of 14 percent from $809 last year.
“That’s an unusual trend,” Powell said of the spending.