Ah, the summer road trip. Packing up the family and heading to the beach, a campground or the Upper Peninsula.
AAA Michigan predicts 1.1 million Michiganders will travel more than 50 miles by car or truck between Thursday evening and Monday night.
That’s about the same number as the past two summers.
Nancy Cain is with AAA Michigan. She says many Michiganders are forgoing the summer road trip this year.
“They’ll be traveling,” she says, “but perhaps not as much.”
Cain says some people they surveyed said they would not be deterred by gasoline prices, which are close to four dollars a gallon and are 15 to 20 cents higher than a year ago
“If they paid more for gas,” Cain says the survey shows, “they would spend a little bit less on…souvenirs….or maybe not have as many meals on the road….maybe not stay as long.”
Cain says fewer Michiganders plan to fly during the Memorial Day weekend.
And nationwide, AAA predicts fewer people will be traveling during the holiday weekend.
AAA says 31.2 million Americans will drive 50 miles or more to a beach, campground or other getaway,. . That’s a small increase from last year but still well short of the record 37.3 million people who drove during the holiday in 2005.
AAA estimates that another 2.3 million travelers will fly, down 8 percent from last year. Another 1.3 million travelers are estimated by AAA to take buses, trains, ferries and other forms of travel, down 12 percent from last Memorial Day.
