Scrape the bugs off your windshield and check your radiator coolant because the next few months are stacking up to be one of the top summers for road trips in years.
As reported by the Los Angeles Times, with consumer confidence up, fuel prices down and frustration over airline fees growing, Americans are expected to hit the road in big numbers over the next few months, rolling to such hot spots as Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon.
Travel experts and surveys conducted in the last few weeks point to a season of busy freeways and crowded roadside attractions.
Three in four summer travelers said they would be taking a trip by car, up from 70% who said they planned to drive last summer, according to a survey of more than 1,200 Americans taken by the travel website TripAdvisor.
A survey by the travel website Expedia found that 14% of travelers said they were more likely to take a summer road trip this year than last year because of an improving economy.
“I think we are going to see a little more of those longer trips,” said Jim Rogers, CEO of Kampgrounds of America Inc. (KOA), a Montana-based franchise with more than 400 campgrounds throughout North America. “It’s not going to be just the weekend trips.”
Summer reservations at KOA campgrounds across the country are up 14% compared with the same period last year, and Rogers attributes the rise to declining fuel prices and rising confidence in the economy.
“It’s not going to be a tsunami or a tidal wave, but it will be a definite wave,” he said of the road trip trend.
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