AAA Mid-Atlantic expects the COVID-19 pandemic to produce a 15 percent decline in trips this summer compared to a year ago.
AAA Mid-Atlantic says the decline is the first for summer trips since 2009.
If not for the pandemic, AAA would be projecting 857 million trips, a 3.6 percent increase over last year.
Instead, it anticipates 700 million trips this summer with 97 percent being taken by car.
Car travel is expected to the preferred mode of travel, seeing only a 3 percent decline from last year,
And AAA Mid-Atlantic’s manager for Public and Government Affairs Ken Grant says drivers will see lower prices at the pump.
"We're looking at gas around $2.16-$2.20 in this region and it may continue to rise a little bit over the next few weeks," said Grant "But we're not expected to see gas prices rise to the level that we saw last year with the usual caveat that that's barring any major natural disasters or geopolitical considerations that may come up."
Grant says the emphasis of traveling by car travel could be good news for Delaware tourism.
“Most of those trips are going to be road trips as opposed to getting on a plane and flying to a destination or getting into a cruise, which could end up meaning that Delaware could see more travelers - if you think that for a day trip or something that's within a day's driving distance," said Grant.
AAA Mid-Atlantic also projects air travel will be off by 74 percent while rail, cruise ship and bus travel will slide by 86 percent.