Fewer people will take a vacation this Labor Day weekend than last year, though cheaper gasoline and an abundance of special holiday deals still promise to make it a busy weekend at airports and on the highway, auto club AAA said Wednesday.

AAA estimated that 39.1 million people will travel at least 50 miles from home between Thursday, Sept. 3, and Monday, Sept. 7, as part of a survey of 1,350 American households. That's six million fewer travelers than last year, but it's more than the number of travelers who took to the roads from 2004 to 2007.

``With Labor Day falling almost a full week later in 2009, many children will have returned to school,'' the auto club said in its report.

However, ``this year's Labor Day holiday travel is expected to show that the pull of the last long weekend of summer is stronger than the poor employment picture and the potential overlap with the school year. In fact, it just may be that many Americans are starting to feel a little more economically secure overall, leaving them freer to travel.''

Gas prices also have dropped compared with last year. A gallon of regular unleaded is $1.05 cheaper, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. IHS Global Insight conducted the survey on behalf of AAA.

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