Happy Wednesday and end of August! In this week's Big I Buzz, we are discussing the Labor Day travel forecast and U.S. drivers struggle to pay for their auto insurance. 

U.S. Labor Day Weekend Travel Volumes Seen Rebounding to Pre-Pandemic Levels

Americans are squeezing in one last vacation for summer 2022 by heading out on trips for Labor Day weekend. According to U.S. News, "The number of people traveling for the U.S. Labor Day holiday weekend is expected to rebound to pre-pandemic levels and possibly set new records in some cases.

A few stats to know from U.S. New's article: 

• Labor Day holiday travel spending is up 17% compared with 2019 levels, according to Adobe Analytics, which measures data across travel, leisure and hospitality sites. 

• Domestic flight prices are expected to be 20% higher than the holiday weekend in 2019 and 2021, according to Hopper. 

• United Airlines Holdings Inc anticipates 2.6 million people will travel with the airline from Thursday through Thursday. The airline carrier said this would nearly match its Labor Day weekend volume of 2019. Along with this statistic, Hopper predicts 12.6 million travelers will fly from Thursday to Monday this weekend. This is 22% higher than passenger volumes in 2019 as reflected in U.S. Transportation Security Administration checkpoint figures. 

• Approximately 1.76 million nights have already been booked across the holiday weekend, a record number of nights for short-term rentals during Labor Day weekend, according to Jamie Lane, Air DNA vice president of research.

Read more about this weekend's travel forecast here. 

One in Three U.S. Drivers Now Struggle to Pay for Auto Insurance

Driving app, Way.com, has roughly 6.5 million drivers using their service to locate parking, schedule car washes, shop for vehicle insurance and more. They interviewed 1,000 drivers to explore how the current economy impacts their insurance usage and choices. According to Property Casualty 360 and the survey, "...34% of respondents are struggling to pay auto insurance premiums. That same percentage of drivers said their current auto insurance costs more than $200 a month. Roughly three out of four of Way.com survey respondents said they've had the same auto insurance carrier for five years or more." Read more here. 

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