One third of Americans to travel over Memorial Day weekend

Only one third of all Americans are planning on travelling during the Memorial Day weekend, according to a survey conducted by Deloitte & Touche. The study concludes that almost 25 percent of Americans have decided to alter their travel plans due to soaring prices at the pumps, while a further 12 percent decided to scrap their holidays, for economic reasons. In the vast majority of cases, those planning weekend road trips were the first ones to cancel their plans, in an effort to save money on fuel.

Adam Weissenberg, a Deloitte vice president in charge of US tourism operations, observed that even with these projected declines, there will still be plenty of Americans taking to the roads over the course of the holiday weekend. Yet the problem for the travel and hospitality industry, according to Weissenberg’s calculations, will be that an increasing number of Americans are starting to ponder staying home instead, due to the high price of oil. Although some analysts thought that Americans would start dropping holiday plans as soon as gas reached $3 per gallon, this did not actually occur. Yet now that petrol costs upwards of $4 a gallon, US drivers appear to have reached the limit that they are willing to pay.

While not everyone will cancel vacation plans, many of those who are still planning on going on a holiday have decided to remain closer to home, instead of driving long distances. According to Deloitte’s estimate, 11 percent of holiday weekend travellers will choose this route.