July 4th holiday travel in California will be relatively flat this year, according to a new forecast.
"We're expecting over 4.7 million Californians to be traveling. This is a 0.7 percent, not even a one-percent difference from last year. But what we have to keep in mind is the calendar effect - Independence Day differs from many holiday travel periods in the year because it's not a fixed five-day or four-day holiday," said Cynthia Harris with AAA, which released the data.
Harris pointed out that last year, when the holiday fell on a Wednesday, lots of people had five-consecutive days off from work and used the time to travel.
She said this year with the 4th on a Thursday people are deciding to stay closer to home.
But, if you're flying out of town, the AAA survey finds that airfares will be about six-percent higher than last year; hotel rates will be up by two-percent; and weekend car rentals will be about 30-percent higher.
