High fuel prices in US won’t deter record July 4th travel US travel over the July 4th holiday will be busier than ever despite high fuel prices, said AAA.
Almost 41 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more, a 1.2% increase over last year, according to the travel and automotive group.
“These numbers are in a range we expected, but they did come out a little better than we thought,” said Mantill Williams, AAA’s director of public affairs.
He added:“That the economy is still doing OK and that the Fourth of July falls
on a Tuesday makes it attractive for a lot of people to be vacationing,” he added.
AAA said car travel will be up 1.3% on July 4th.
Gas prices have been soaring to the point where average costs are $2.86 a gallon, or about 65 cents higher than a year ago, said AAA.
The strong July survey follows a slow Memorial Day holiday. “Historically, high gas prices alone don’t tend to stop people from traveling, but we’re starting to see car travel be affected,” said Mr Williams.
Report by David Wilkening
