by Donald Wood
Last updated: 12:05 AM ET, Thu June 20, 2024
As travelers prepare to hit the road for July 4th, AAA
projects that 70.9 million will travel 50 miles or more from home over the Independence
Day holiday travel period.
AAA included the entire July 4th week, plus the Saturday
before and the Sunday after the holiday, in the estimate this year for the
first time. As a result, the projected total is a five percent increase
compared to 2023 and an eight percent increase over 2019.
A record 60.6 million people are expected to travel by car
over Independence Day week, an increase of 2.8 million travelers compared to
last year. This year’s number surpasses 2019 totals, when 55.3 million people
traveled by car over the July 4th week.
AAA car rental partner Hertz says Dallas, Denver, Salt Lake
City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco display the highest rental demand during
the holiday week. The busiest pick-up days are projected to be Friday, June 28,
Saturday, June 29, and Wednesday, July 3.
“With summer vacations in full swing and the flexibility of
remote work, more Americans are taking extended trips around Independence Day,”
AAA Travel Senior Vice President Paula Twidale said. “We anticipate this July
4th week will be the busiest ever with an additional 5.7 million people
traveling compared to 2019.”
As for air travel, AAA projects 5.74 million people will fly
to their July 4th destinations, an increase of nearly seven percent compared to
last year and a 12 percent increase over 2019.
Another 4.6 million people are expected to travel by other
modes of transportation, including buses, cruises, and trains. This category is
seeing an increase of nine percent compared to last year, but this year’s
number is shy of 2019’s figure of 4.79 million.
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