AAA Arizona expects Fourth of July travel to return to near pre-pandemic levels

PHOENIX — AAA Arizona expects travel over the Fourth of July holiday to return to near pre-pandemic levels this year, despite high prices at the pump.

“We started seeing demand for travel grow earlier this year and it isn’t tapering off,” Rolando Flores, senior vice president of membership and travel for AAA Arizona, said in a press release.

“Even though things are more expensive, people want to travel and they are finding ways to still take that much-needed break.”

More than 919,000 Arizonans are expected to travel for the holiday, AAA Arizona said, just over 717,000 of which will be on the road.

This is despite the national average for a gallon of gas being $4.89, nearly $2 more than this time last year. Gas is even more expensive in Arizona, with the current average being $5.29 a gallon.

AAA expects 47.9 million people nationally to travel over the Independence Day holiday, which would be 98% pre-pandemic levels and more than a million more from last year.

Of those travelers, 42 million are projected to travel by car.

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