Spending Memorial Day weekend closer to home was a popular destination choice as gas prices continued to climb.

The average price of unleaded gasoline in Kansas was $3.84 on Memorial Day, up about 16 percent compared with $3.29 a year ago.

Meanwhile, traffic on the Kansas Turnpike dropped 3.5 percent and traffic at Kansas City International Airport declined 6.6 percent, compared with a year ago.

Those numbers confirmed what local and national travel experts forecasted before the holiday weekend: a drop in summer travel, especially long distances.

“One of the things that they (travel agents) are predicting is people are still going to travel, but probably are going to stay a little closer to home,” said Richard Smalley, tourism marketing director for the Kansas Department of Commerce.

That’s probably why Lawrence-area lakes were humming despite some clouds and rain.

“We were hammered. I mean it was swamped here,” said Bryan Best, general manager of Lake Perry Yacht & Marina.

He said business was as good as last year if not better, and believes it is due to the gas prices. While people may not be able to afford a weekend trip away from home, they still want to get away.

“The lake business is always going to stay strong because for years and years it’s been the cheap way to vacation for a lot of people – camping and going to the lake,” Best said.