More than 1.6 million Floridians plan to travel in the state over the Labor Day holiday between Thursday, September 2 and Monday, September 6, AAA said.
As with all summer holidays, Labor Day is mostly comprised of auto travelers. This year, 1.5 million Floridians are expected to travel by automobile, an increase of 4.1 percent from last year.
AAA said in a statement that, provided there is no major tropical storm activity in the Gulf Coast region, its expects the average price of regular retail gasoline in Florida to be between $2.65 and $2.75 per gallon this holiday weekend. Air travel and travel by other modes are also expected to increase by 2.1 percent and 0.9 percent in the state, respectively.
Overall, travel in the South Atlantic region of the U.S. is projected to increase 7.7 percent from last year with more than 5.9 million travelers, the statement said.
As a result of the oil spill, travelers are changing their destination from the Gulf region to other areas rather than canceling their plan altogether, AAA said.
“The good news is the South Atlantic region is moving in a positive direction from last year with a healthy increase in Labor Day travel”, said Brent Hubele, Vice President, AAA Travel.
