High Gas Prices Steer July 4 Travelers Away from the Road

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Travel group AAA reported that because of gas costs more people will forego road travel on Fourth of July weekend.

Fewer people will be taking to the open road this Independence Day, no thanks to high gas prices, says AAA. Holiday road travel is expected to drop 2.5% from a year ago even though the price of gasoline has fallen slightly in recent weeks. But gas prices are $1 higher than they were last year and are expected to average at about $3.74 a gallon over the holiday weekend.

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So are people staycationing? Maybe some people will. But despite a recent torrent of bad publicity for airlines, the TSA and air traffic control, AAA also reports that just over 3 million people will fly to their destinations that weekend, a 9% increase from last year’s 2.75 million air travelers. The increase in air traffic isn’t due to cheaper airfares, though. Airline tickets for the holiday weekend are expected to be 11% higher than they were last year.

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NewsFeed guesses that travelers figure if they’re going to pay top dollar to go places, they’d rather have someone else getting them there rather than driving themselves.