As families begin to budget for their summer vacations many are breathing a sigh of relief as gasoline prices continue to stay at at reasonable rate.

Clay Ingram, public relations and marketing manager for Triple A Alabama, says gasoline priceshaven't spiked as the company had originally anticipated earlier in the year.

"Prices have been considerably less than what we had thought," Ingram said. "We had thoughtthat through the course of summer we would see prices closer to $3 a gallon."

Last year at this time, the national average for gasoline was $2.67, which today stands at $2.76.

Alabama's national average today is $2.59, whereas last year was $2.54.

"This is really a great thing for summer traveling," Ingram continued. "It's actually a pleasant surprise to many."

Ingram also says he doesn't foresee any major changes during the summer months in prices and is even expecting another drop in prices after the July Fourth holiday rush.

"That's the usual trend," Ingram says. "There's also a good chance of prices dropping again during the Fall."

Even though gasoline prices and demands are down, Ingram expects this summer will show an increase in travel and turn out to be one of the busiest seasons since the downturn of the economy.

"The economy really took down the summer travel over the last year or so, but we are expecting the rebound to hit this year," Ingram said. "We have anticipated a 17 percent increase in travel this July Fourth."

Ingram says the increase is impressive.

"This is huge to us because each year has only been around a one or two percent increase," Ingram says. "We are glad to see things starting to pick back up."

For more information on local or national gasoline prices or for other traveling questions, visit the Triple A web-page at www.AAA.com.