Labor Day road rally
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SCOTT JAGOW: Today’s a big travel day for a lot of folks. What’s interesting this Labor Day is how people are getting around. Stacey Vanek-Smith reports.
STACEY VANEK-SMITH: Hitting the road is just what 35 million Americans are doing this weekend.
AAA’s Mike Pina co-authored the report. He says tighter restrictions at airports have a lot of people opting for the road-trip.
MIKE PINA: A lot of Americans saw the publicity regarding the gels and the lotions and all of the long lines and so on, and I think many of them may have decided that they would rather drive this weekend.
About 85 percent of this weekend’s travelers are going by car.
The kinder, gentler gas prices haven’t hurt either.
In fact, Pina predicts that if gas prices continue to fall, Americans will start coming out en masse this time next year.
PINA: If gas prices continue to slide, next labor day could be a big boom for the travel and tourism industry.
In Los Angeles, and working this Labor Day, I’m Stacey Vanek-Smith for Marketplace.
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