AAA expects 50.7 million Americans to travel 50 miles or more this weekend, with 43.2 million opting to drive. This would represent not only a 2.4% increase over 2022—perhaps logical given that the national gasoline price average last year was $4.80 a gallon—but also a 4% increase in travel over 2019.
Air travel is expected to set its own record with 4.17 million projected to fly to their destinations this weekend. This would represent an 11.2% increase over 2022, and a 6.6% increase over 2019, which was not only before the pandemic, but also before the dramatic levels of inflation we’re seeing in all retail sectors at the moment.