After years of sticking close to home, more Americans are eager to shake off the recession's remnants and have a final summer adventure, according to experts who track travel.
"We've noticed that vacation plans increased quite a bit in August," compared with June, said Chris Christopher, an economist who focuses on consumer markets for IHS Global Insight, a forecasting firm.
Christopher said he looked more deeply into data released Tuesday by the Conference Board, a business research group. The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index showed a slight gain overall. But the random sample of consumers reflected a notable uptick in travel plans in recent weeks.
"It's somewhat tied to gas prices," Christopher said. Back in mid-July, gas prices were running around $3.68 a gallon. But this month, they eased down by about a dime a gallon, according to the website Gasbuddy.com.
As gas prices have settled back, consumers have started to feel a bit more comfortable, Christopher said. "And nothing really bad happened in August to get people worried, so consumer confidence is relatively elevated," he said.
That upbeat assessment of travel plans is in line with what AAA Travel sees happening. The auto club estimates 34 million Americans will travel more than 50 miles from home over the long Labor Day holiday weekend — a 4.2 percent jump over last year and the highest number since before the recession began in late 2007.
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