Chattanooga Times Free Press

Memorial Day travel projected to see huge jump

STAFF AND WIRE REPORT

U.S. highways will be far busier over the Memorial Day holiday weekend than last year, but traffic still won’t reach pre-pandemic levels, according to a forecast by the AAA auto club.

AAA officials say travel will increase because more Americans have been vaccinated against COVID-19 — more than one-third of U.S. adults — and consumer confidence is growing.

The auto club and insurance company said Tuesday it expects more than 37 million people to travel at least 50 miles from home during the holiday weekend, up 60% from last year, which was the lowest since AAA began keeping records in 2000.

If the AAA forecast is right, however, it would still be 6 million people, or 13%, fewer than left home over Memorial Day in 2019.

“As more people get the COVID-19 vaccine and consumer confidence grows, Americans are demonstrating

a strong desire to travel this Memorial Day,” said Paula Twidale, senior vice president for AAA Travel. “This pent-up demand will result in a significant increase in Memorial Day travel, which is a strong indicator for summer, though we must all remember to continue taking important safety precautions.”

AAA notes that the actual number of holiday travelers could fluctuate as Memorial Day approaches. If there is an increase in reported cases attributed to new COVID-19 variants, some people may decide to stay home, while others may note the strong progress in vaccinations and make last-minute decisions to travel.

AAA said 34 million Americans plan driving trips between May 27 and May 31, a 52% increase over last year, and nearly 2.5 million will take plane trips, nearly six times more than the same period in 2020. A small number will take buses or trains.

So far in May, nearly 1.5 million people per day have gone through U.S. airport checkpoints, according to the Transportation Security Administration. AAA said its air-travel forecast seems low because it counts each traveler once, while TSA counts somebody twice if they take a round-trip flight.

As primarily a driving destination for tourists being within a day’s drive of nearly half the U.S. population, Chattanooga’s $1.1 billion-a-year tourism industry should benefit by the rebound in travel.

Hugh Morrow, president of Ruby Falls on Lookout Mountain and the former chairman of the Tennessee Hospitality Association, said Ruby Falls is planning to return its underground cave waterfall to full occupancy levels on Memorial Day weekend for the first time in more than a year.

“By then, everyone who wants to have a vaccine should be able to have one,” he said.

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2021-05-12T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-05-12T07:00:00.0000000Z

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