Travel

Memorial Day signals the beginning of the summer travel season. It also signals a higher risk time for unsafe driving, motor vehicle crashes and fatalities. In a unified effort to help prevent traffic deaths and injuries, AAA Michigan, the Detroit Tigers, Michigan State Police and local law enforcement agencies have teamed up to promote a safer summer.

Seven Michigan eighth graders won a contest through AAA to participate in an 8-day AmaWaterways European river cruise in March.

AAA Michigan officially announced its 2019 award-winning hotels and restaurants that have earned the coveted Four Diamond Rating during the past 12 months. Awards were presented today at the Grand Traverse Resort and Spa near Traverse City during the AAA Four Diamond Awards luncheon at the Pure Michigan’s Governors Conference on Tourism.  

AAA Michigan projects nearly 3.6 million residents will head for vehicles, planes and rails this holiday season; four percent more than last year, and the most since AAA has been tracking holiday travel. Those heading out will be among the 112.million Americans traveling more than 50 miles from home, also up four percent.

Michigan consumers concerned about discretionary spending are seeking ways to make the most of gift giving budgets.

An estimated 1.4 million Michiganians said they will travel during the 2008 Thanksgiving holiday period, a 6-percent decrease from last year, says AAA Michigan. AAA also forecasts a small decline in the number of holiday travelers nationally.

For seven years in a row, The 1913 Room at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in downtown Grand Rapids has achieved AAA Five Diamond status.

The 2008 fall color show is coming to a close, says AAA Michigan, with peak viewing conditions reported in the Southwest and Southeast Lower Peninsula. Good fall color conditions are reported in Grand Rapids, Holly, Jackson, Milford, Shelby Township and Tipton, with color development at 100 percent.

A few trees in some parts of Michigan have already started to show their fall foliage, and AAA Michigan says this may be a harbinger of what could be an excellent fall color season if Mother Nature cooperates.