Fourth of July travel is poised to bounce back in a big way this year as Americans do their best to put the COVID-19 pandemic in the rearview mirror. The vaccine rollout and destination reopenings mean that travelers can venture from home with confidence in 2021 and the latest data suggests that many will do just that.
Travel website Hopper recently published its July 4th Travel Outlook for 2021, predicting Independence Day to be the biggest travel weekend since the start of the pandemic nearly 16 months ago, forecasting a TSA throughput of around 2 to 2.1 million passengers.
Hopper also revealed the busiest travel days and airports this Independence Day. While there aren't many surprises travelers will want to take note to give themselves the best shot to avoid potential delays and headaches.
According to Hopper's research, Friday, July 2 will most likely be the busiest travel day of the holiday weekend with 3.33 million departing seats. That's 50,000 more compared to Thursday, July 1. With the July 4 festivities falling on a Sunday this year, Hopper anticipates that Monday, July 5 will be the busiest day to return home with a whopping 3.34 million seats flying.
Major cities will see plenty of passenger traffic this holiday weekend but Chicago's O'Hare International Airport is expected to be the busiest airport for Independence Day travel, boasting 100,000 more departing seats than the next two busiest airports, which are Los Angeles International Airport on the West Coast and American Airlines' hub Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Hopper predicts that O'Hare will be the busiest on Friday night with about 21,000 departing seats alone heading out between the one-hour block of 7-8 p.m. local time.
When it comes to where travelers are going this Independence Day, Las Vegas tops the list as the most booked destination for July 4. Miami and Orlando rank second and third, respectively, for domestic getaways. Internationally, Cancun, San Juan, Puerto Rico (a U.S. territory that doesn't require a passport) and Mexico City were determined to be the most booked destinations on Hopper.
In addition to being booked, Florida is trending ahead of the holiday, with Sarasota ranking as the most popular domestic destination, followed by Panama City Beach and Fairbanks, Alaska. Overseas, travelers are showing significant interest in St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, San Salvador, El Salvador and Montego Bay, Jamaica, according to Hopper.
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