Many are expected to travel for 4th of July

"It'll be a busy holiday period so expect to see a number of people no matter where you're traveling."

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — With the Fourth of July holiday landing on a weekend many people are looking to celebrate out of town.

“We expect a busy weekend as people start to return to travel. We’re expecting about 48 million Americans to travel this holiday period which is an increase of 40 percent from last year,” AAA Director of Public Affairs Gene LaDoucer said.

Gene LaDoucer with AAA says with more people choosing to spend the holiday out of town, they are also opting to drive to their destinations which can become costly down the road.

“So many people are traveling by automobile they should probably consider filling up their fuel tanks at a quarter of a tank or so because in some areas we expect to see limited outages of gasoline at certain gas stations because there aren’t enough truck drivers to get the fuel to the gas stations. Gas prices currently are the highest they’ve been for the holiday in seven years, but that’s not going to keep people from hitting the roads this holiday period,” said LaDoucer.

One travel expert says the option to travel via car over airplane isn’t necessarily over pandemic concerns, but more so what’s available.

“Flights, they just don’t have as many planes in operation as they did in 2019. So even getting some space on seats is more difficult so you can probably see some more driving because of just being able to get places on the planes too. It’s definitely going to be much higher for people driving this holiday,” Travel Incorporated Manager Tod Ganje said.

If you’re looking to travel in honor of Independence Day this weekend, a few tips to look out for may make your experience a little more enjoyable.

“Knowing policies and procedures of what airlines are expecting, policies and procedures, what happened with the destinations that I’m going to, what are the requirements such as COVID, testing, vaccinations,” Ganje said.

“It’ll be a busy holiday period so expect to see a number of people no matter where you’re traveling. Keep safety in mind always, but enjoy the holiday,” said LaDoucer.

Both experts say traveling for the Fourth of July holiday will make for a major economic boost.