news-record.com

Despite the ailing economy and rising gas prices, road trips in North Carolina should increase by 5.6 percent this Memorial Day weekend, the traditional start to the summer driving season.

“I would define it as a modest jump,” Brendan Byrnes , a spokesman for AAA Carolinas in Charlotte , said of the increase in highway travel. “I think it is a positive thing. People are still interested in travel. They are not so terrified that they are staying at home.”

AAA says the increase comes after $3.75-cents-a-gallon gasoline in 2008 forced many motorists to abandon their vacation plans.

Last Memorial Day weekend, auto travel dropped nearly 20 percent and air travel plunged more than 48 percent.

This year, gas prices have shot up about 25 cents a gallon since Easter for a statewide average of $2.27 . Even so, that’s a bargain compared to last Memorial Day.

Byrnes said a number of factors have contributed to the anticipated increase in travel.

“I think it is a combination of people wanting to get away, gas prices being $1.50 less and travel bargains out there,” he said. “We are seeing deals like we have never seen before.”

AAA reported that three diamond hotel rates are down 12 percent nationwide from last year, while car rental rates are off 3 percent and air fares are down 4 percent.

Overall, AAA estimated, 754,000 North Carolinians will hit the roads beginning Friday and 60,000 will fly, a 5.3 percent increase.

The cost of gasoline has been rising because crude oil prices have jumped to about $60 a barrel since averaging about $50 a barrel in April .

“We didn’t anticipate prices crude going this high this quickly,” said Neil Gamson , an economist with the Energy Information Administration in Washington . “We should not see prices over $2.40 , assuming events don’t take crude oil prices much higher than they are now.”

In addition, Gamson said, pump prices usually rise with the approach of summer.

Last year, prices jumped more than 50 cents a gallon between Easter and Memorial Day.

According to AAA, gas averages $2.18 a gallon in High Point , the lowest price among the major cities in the state and seven cents less than in Greensboro .

Byrnes cited what he called “aggressive pricing” among several High Point stations.