NEW YORK – Americans who will be driving on the July Fourth holiday will be paying more at the pump than last year, Bloomberg reports.

According to AAA, the national average retail price for regular gasoline is $2.975 a gallon, which is 12 cents higher than in 2006. However, gasoline prices have dropped 7.8 percent from their all-time high on May 23, 2007.

For this week’s July Fourth holiday, a record 41.1 million Americans will be traveling, AAA reports. Around 34.7 million people will drive by car or light truck, up 0.7 percent from last year.

Despite higher-than-normal prices, people are still driving as much as usual, U.S. Department of Energy data shows. Gasoline consumption has risen 1.5 percent from 2006 to reach 9.5 million barrels a day, based on the four-week average.

While higher pump prices most likely won’t keep people from driving, it might reduce some of their spending while traveling, said Bruce Brossman, director of sales and marketing for Xanterra South Rim LLC, which manages lodgings inside Arizona’s Grand Canyon National Park. “Some discretionary spending may suffer a bit,” he told the news service.