An improving economy and relatively low gas prices are contributing to an expected increase in Labor Day weekend travel for North Carolinians, according to a news release this week from AAA Carolinas.
The automobile association predicts that about 1,021,800 state residents – a 1 percent increase from last year’s holiday weekend – will travel 50 miles or more away from home. Of those travelers, 86 percent will be driving, the organization estimates.
“Those driving will encounter the lowest gas prices this holiday in 11 years,” the release stated. “North Carolina’s state-wide average today is $2.22 per gallon. Motorists were paying $1.10 more per gallon statewide a year ago on Labor Day. Gas prices in North Carolina have fallen 43 cents a gallon since July 4th, allowing consumers to keep more money in their wallets and spend slightly more on hotels and food.”
Gas prices in and around Wilmington currently average $2.24 per gallon, slightly higher than the state average but $1.15 per gallon less than the going rate a year ago, according to figures from AAA Carolinas. The organization’s survey of prices at cities across North Carolina shows the most expensive gas is found in the Asheville area, where prices are averaging $2.36 per gallon. The least expensive fuel is in the Triad area, with Winston-Salem, Greensboro and High Point consumers paying an average of $2.16 per gallon to fill their tanks.
Local beach destinations are anticipating brisk business.
“We’re very close to full. We just have three or four more rooms to fill,” Erin Lemaster, reservationist at Shell Island Resort at Wrightsville Beach, said Friday afternoon. “We’ve got lots of people coming from the Raleigh and the Triad areas. Definitely, the weather plays an important part, and we’ve got a good weather forecast.”
Greg Reynolds, executive director of the Pleasure Island Chamber of Commerce, gazed out his window mid-afternoon and said that visitors were just starting to arrive.
"People are working until 4 or 5 [p.m.]," he said, adding that Labor Day weekend traffic doesn't start in earnest until later on Friday. He does, however, anticipate healthy numbers of vacationers, especially from the Raleigh area.
"We've got a lot of calls asking who has vacancies, and we don't have hotels calling to say they have vacancies. And Freeman Park is full. Things have been filled up for a couple of weeks now."
Despite the fact that the amusement park rides have left Carolina Beach - thanks to a scheduling conflict - Reynolds thinks that this Labor Day weekend will be a profitable one.
"Lower gas prices will help," he said.
Katharine Womble, a ranger at Fort Fisher State Recreation Area, said on holiday weekends the site’s parking lot is usually full by 10 a.m.
“Once that’s full, we have areas we can park people on the road near the aquarium, but when those areas are full, visitors just have to find a place to park on their own,” she said Friday.
