AAA: Nearly 42M Americans expected to travel during Independence Day holiday

AAA SAID that 41.9 million travelers are expected to journey at least 50 miles from home this Independence Day. / COURTESY AAA
AAA SAID that 41.9 million travelers are expected to journey at least 50 miles from home this Independence Day. / COURTESY AAA

PROVIDENCE – Nearly 42 million Americans – including 2.1 million from New England – are expected to travel 50 miles or more from home during the Independence Day holiday travel period from July 1 to 5, the most since 2007, according to AAA.

AAA said that represents a 0.7 percent increase from the 41.6 million people who traveled last year.

“This Independence Day, more people will get in their cars, board airplanes and take buses, trains and cruise ships to celebrate our nation’s freedom with friends and family,” Lloyd P. Albert, AAA Northeast senior vice president of public and government affairs, said in a statement. “Independence Day is typically the busiest summer travel holiday for this reason, and more Americans are planning a holiday getaway than any year since 2007.”

AAA said that rising income, led by a strong employment market, is prompting more Americans to take a holiday trip this year. Even with recent price increases in gasoline, prices remain “well below year-ago levels,” AAA said, helping to boost Americans’ disposable income. Prices generally are the lowest they have been in five years, AAA said.

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“Although some consumers are using their recent savings on gas to pay down debt and save, overall, Americans are planning to travel in record numbers,” Albert said. “Independence Day gas prices are expected to be the lowest in at least five years, a welcome sign for the 35.5 million people planning a holiday road trip.”

Of the 41.9 million projected to travel, 1,077,000 are expected to come from Massachusetts, with 931,000 of them planning to drive, both increases compared with 2014. Numbers specific to Rhode Island were not immediately available.
Nearly 85 percent of travelers nationwide – 35.5 million – will drive to their holiday destinations, an increase of 0.7 percent. Holiday air travel is expected to increase 1.5 percent to 3.21 million leisure travelers. Travel by other modes of transportation including cruises, trains and buses, will increase 0.5 percent this Independence Day, to 3.2 million, AAA said.
And, AAA expects it will rescue nearly 360,000 motorists roadside over the holiday travel period, citing “dead batteries, flat tires and lockouts” as the main reasons for service.
Average airfares for the top 40 domestic flight routes are expected to cost 6 percent more compared with last year – $227.

AAA’s projections are based on economic forecasting and research by Colorado-based IHS Global Insight.

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