Millions of Americans and New Jerseyans are heading out for one last gasp of the summer season.

Over the holiday weekend, AAA projects overall domestic travel to tick up 9% versus last year. Meanwhile, the cost to travel domestically is down 2%, including domestic airfare down 2%, international flights 8% less expensive and rental cars down 16% in price. However, domestic hotels are up 7% year-over-year, according to AAA Travel bookings.

Between Aug. 29 and Sept. 4, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) says it is prepared to screen more than 17 million people in what is projected to be the busiest Labor Day travel period on record. TSA anticipates peak travel Aug. 30, when it expects to screen 2.86 million people.

The trends mark a continuation of a strong summer travel season, highlighted by busy highways and record airport crowds.

Earlier this week, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced a record 13.8 million passengers using its airports. That marked not only the busiest July, but the busiest month of all time for the agency, boosted by record travel during the Fourth of July holiday travel period.

Hitting the road

“Travel volumes have been robust domestically and internationally all summer,” Tracy Noble, spokesperson for AAA Club Alliance, told NJBIZ. “Not everyone travels for Labor Day because kids are back in school. But many people try to squeeze in one last three-day weekend to end summer while others may take off the week after Labor Day to kick off ‘shoulder season’ travel, which can mean lower travel costs and fewer crowds at many destinations in the United States and abroad.”

AAA also notes that 85% to 90% of holiday weekend travelers drive to their destinations. The organization expects road trips to rule this Labor Day with excursions to the shore, lakes, campgrounds or weekend getaways to nearby cities.

“Americans see the extended Labor Day weekend as an opportunity to say farewell to summer with one final trip,” said Debbie Haas, vice president of travel for AAA – The Auto Club Group. “Since many kids are already back in school, regional road trips tend to be the most popular option for families. Because of that, others see this as an opportunity to travel the world, with the expectation of smaller crowds at popular sites.”

Speaking of road trips

Earlier this week, GasBuddy released its annual Labor Day travel forecast. The technology company predicts the average price of gas will continue its recent downward trend, falling to a $3.27 per gallon average nationally on Labor Day.

That would be the lowest Labor Day price since 2021 — and 50 cents (13%) below last year’s $3.77 figure. According to GasBuddy, that drop will save Americans some $750 million over the Friday-through-Monday travel period.

“It’s been a great summer for motorists to hit the road with gas prices generally lower than last year,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “But heading into Labor Day, the year-on-year gap has grown substantially thanks to few refinery outages or heatwaves impacting refineries this month. Hurricane season has also been quiet so far. With no threats to major gasoline and diesel producing refineries, it’s looking more and more likely that we may avoid a late summer price spike.”

Here in New Jersey, the average as of Wednesday afternoon was $3.24 per gallon – some 40 cents per gallon lower than a year ago.

“While many Americans may wish summer could last forever, the good news is we’re seeing perhaps the best opportunity in years for the national average to fall below $3 per gallon,” said De Haan. “As we get closer to Thanksgiving, we should see tens of thousands of stations ultimately fall back below that level, all thanks to falling seasonal demand and cheaper winter gasoline, which is right around the corner.”

He noted that Sept. 16 many gas stations will start transitioning to winter blend gas, which will likely help accelerate the decline in gas prices.

Continuing to break records

Earlier this week, the Port Authority held a briefing to announce its expectation of a record 6.7 million travelers using its airports and crossings during the Labor Day travel period.

“We projected a record-breaking summer for travel – and expect to keep breaking records through the end of the summer, with 2.5 million air passengers and 4.2 million vehicles using our crossings between Thursday and Tuesday of next week,” said Jim Heitmann, Port Authority chief operating officer, at the Aug. 27 press conference at PATH World Trade Center station. “This volume represents a 3% increase over last year’s Labor Day Weekend – and it’s going to continue to break records.”

Heitmann stressed that the agency is prepared.

“For anyone driving, we are suspending all non-emergency construction work from Thursday morning at 5:00 a.m. through Tuesday at 5:00 a.m.,” he said. “For PATH, on Monday, we’re using a modified Saturday morning weekend schedule. So, if you are staying local, PATH is the way to go. You can use the TAPP system – which is our new contactless, electronic system at all of our stations.”

Heitmann laid out a series of holiday weekend travel advisories and tips, which can be found here.

“Looking for record-breaking traffic at our facilities – we are prepared,” Heitmann reiterated. “And if you follow the advice that I just gave, we’ll get through this very successfully.”

And as NJBIZ has reported, NJ Transit’s fare holiday continues through Sept. 2.

As a thank you to our loyal customers, Governor Murphy has announced a transit fare holiday period for all customers continuing through 9/2. Fares will be waived for all modes of transportation, offering free rides across the NJ TRANSIT network. pic.twitter.com/5SvJukzqln

— NJ TRANSIT (@NJTRANSIT) August 28, 2024

Safe travels out there – and wishing all of our readers a very happy and healthy holiday ahead.