KANSAS CITY, Mo. —Memorial Day travel may be more difficult in 2018 than it has been in more than a dozen years, according to AAA.
The company released its 2018 Memorial Day travel forecast ahead of the holiday known as the informal kickoff to summer.
AAA said 2018 will see a near-record number of travelers, with more than 41.5 million people expected to take a trip.
That’s nearly 5 percent more than 2017, with an additional 2 million people traveling in planes, trains and cars.
According to INRIX, a global transportation analytics company, travel delays could be up to three times longer, becoming especially bad on the Thursday and Friday before the holiday as travelers mix with work-week commuters.
Most travelers will take a car to their destination — 36.6 million to be exact. Airlines will see 3.1 million people, and the 1.8 million remaining will take trains, buses and cruise ships.
Despite higher gas prices, travelers are still hitting the road. They will pay the most expensive Memorial Day weekend gas prices in four years.
One contributing factor to peoples’ willingness to travel despite the price hike could be that airline and rental car costs are expected to dip this Memorial Day weekend, making up for the increased cost.
Airfare is down 7 percent in price, and the average daily cost of a rental car is the lowest it’s been in four years.
AAA released a list of the top 10 Memorial Day travel destinations, with Orlando at #1.
- Orlando, Florida
- Seattle, Washington
- Honolulu, Hawaii
- Las Vegas, Nevada
- Anchorage, Alaska
- Phoenix, Arizona
- Anaheim, California
- Boston, Massachusetts
- Denver, Colorado
- New York, New York
AAA said many people were also heading overseas to Europe for Memorial Day, Rome, Dublin and London among the most popular destinations.
Find a list of the worst places and time to travel here.
