SMYRNA, Ga. — Travel this Memorial Day, the unofficial start to summer, was the highest in a decade, no doubt good news for the economy.
In more good news, the number of people expected to travel as the summer heats up doesn’t as if it will slow any time soon, new polls show.
A new survey from Harris Interactive found 68 percent of Americans have at least one leisure trip planned for this summer. While that is a slight increase from the 66 percent who planned such a trip last year, what’s more telling is that 53 percent said the economy played no role in their decision to travel.
“The continued rise in U.S. consumer sentiment and employment is leading to more people traveling more often,” Reuters quoted John Heimlich, Airlines for America’s chief economist, as saying.
The trade organization is projecting roughly 222 million passengers — or 2.4 million per day— are expected to fly on U.S. airlines between June 1 and Aug. 31, up 4.5 percent from 2014. This includes 31 million travelers on international flights, a record high.
Meanwhile, a survey from Bridgestone Americas found that 89 percent of Americans take summer road trips. An unrelated survey from AAA found an 8 percent increase in the number of summer travelers in Georgia, Florida and Tennessee.
“Americans want to travel during the summer and now have even more reason to do so,” Brent Stahlheber, senior vice president of brand marketing and travel for AAA, said in a news release.“Travelers have more money in their pockets this year, thanks to lower gasoline prices and improvements in the economy. Now they can justify taking multiple vacations and following some of the most popular travel trends like a beach getaway, theme park or cruise.”