If you’ve delayed taking a road trip due to the cost of fuel, you might not want to wait any longer. The only thing to be wary of is the crowd, because there are going to be lots of you out there.
Gasoline prices are forecast at about $2.29 a gallon across the U.S. this summer, an 11-year low and nearly 50 cents a gallon below last year’s summer average. In its annual summer travel survey, GasBuddy found that more than 75% of Americans said they would be traveling this summer, with nearly 80% of those saying they plan to travel by car. The summer season is defined as the period between the Memorial Day and Labor Day holiday weekends.
More than half of this summer’s travelers (56%) expect to put at least 400 miles on the odometer.
That is good news for hotels and motels, restaurants, gift shops and all other manner of travel-related businesses. The GasBuddy survey noted that 53% of this summer’s travelers are doing it for fun and relaxation, compared with 51% last summer.
GasBuddy’s senior petroleum analyst, Patrick DeHaan, said:
Motorists will be filling up their tanks with the cheapest summer gasoline since 2005 and we are finding that more people than ever will be taking advantage by hitting the road. As we kick off driving season, gas prices will be nearly a dollar per gallon lower than the ten-year Memorial Day average of $3.15 per gallon. The incredible part is nationally, we’ll be saving $2.6 billion over the long weekend versus the highest-priced Memorial Day weekend in 2011 at $3.78 per gallon.
One more note on this summer’s travel: GasBuddy expects a 4% increase in day-trippers. The following infographic from GasBuddy offers more details.
The Average American Is Losing Momentum on Their Savings Every Day (Sponsor)
If you’re like many Americans and keep your money ‘safe’ in a checking or savings account, think again. The average yield on a savings account is a paltry .4%* today. Checking accounts are even worse.
But there is good news. To win qualified customers, some accounts are paying nearly 10x the national average! That’s an incredible way to keep your money safe and earn more at the same time. Our top pick for high yield savings accounts includes other benefits as well. You can earn up to 3.80% with a Checking & Savings Account today Sign up and get up to $300 with direct deposit. No account fees. FDIC Insured.
Click here to see how much more you could be earning on your savings today. It takes just a few minutes to open an account to make your money work for you.
Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.
Latest from 24/7
Our expert who first called NVIDIA in 2009 is predicting 2025 will see a historic AI breakthrough.
You can follow him investing $500,000 of his own money on our top AI stocks for free.