CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) – Many travelers took advantage earlier Thursday, to get a jump start on their long Memorial Day Weekend, travel experts are telling drivers to expect higher volumes of those looking to get away during the holiday.
Whether its by road, or sky, millions of people are kicking off their summer traveling with this Memorial Day weekend, and if you thought last year was busy, experts say prepare for it to be even busier this summer.
Mark Schieldrop of AAA Northeast telling 22News, “It’s been a while since we’ve had a normal travel season, we are going to be basically at 99 percent of what the volumes were at 2019, and 2019 was a record travel year.”
According to data, 63 percent of adults here in the U.S. plan to travel this summer, that’s up by 61 percent this time last year. Skyrocketing airfare is not stopping air travel over the Memorial holiday weekend, which is projected to pass pre-pandemic levels.
A sign for what is to come this summer, as AAA shows international travel up more than 200 percent. Despite the demand, airlines have been cutting back on the number of flights, because of continued staffing shortages.
Schieldrop adding, “We might actually have less cancelations and less delays, but that also means there’s less availability, higher prices, and if you do get bumped, it may be that much harder and longer to get on a rescheduled flight.”
As for those last minute airfare deals, AAA experts say they will be hard to come by this year because of the demand, which means book as soon as possible to have more inexpensive options for summer traveling.