Summer is around the corner and the American Automobile Association (AAA) has revealed very interesting information regarding Memorial Day Weekend, summer travel and travel trends for Americans this season. 

For starters, over 43.8 million Americans will make the most of this Memorial Day Weekend, traveling by plane (3.51 million travelers), private vehicles (38.4 million), buses, trains and cruises (1.9 million).

This is a 4% jump from 2023 figures and almost as high as 2005, when the country saw 44 million travelers, said Paula Twidale, Senior Vice President of AAA Travel.

“We haven’t seen Memorial Day weekend travel numbers like these in almost 20 years,” said Twidale.  

These numbers mean we’ll have one million more travelers this holiday weekend than before the pandemic and “signal a very busy summer travel season ahead.” 

Methodology 

AAA and S&P Global Market Intelligence (SPGMI) used data points like net income, jobs, asset prices, interest rates, real state indicators and travel and tourism variables from 2000 to 2024 to obtain data trends and figures related to travel, travelers and tourism. 

This report was fully completed on April 15, 2024. 


AAA Reveals Record-Breaking Travel Numbers For Memorial Weekend

Another interesting finding is travel trends. Let’s see what AAA found.

  • World-class Vacations: AAA detected a wave of people going on luxury cruises and tours. 
  • Extreme Nature: Americans are eager to visit exotic places like Antarctica, the South Pacific and Africa.
  • Solo Travel: Women are massively traveling solo for the first time. 
  • Milestones: Families and groups of friends are traveling to celebrate special occasions.
  • Asia Travel: Tourists are finally booking that dream trip to Japan and Southeast Asian countries. 
  • Trains: Tourists are increasingly interested in taking trains across Canada and Europe.
  • Bucket lists: Americans are finally booking their dream trips. 
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Top Destinations 

When choosing domestic hotspots, Americans seem to have beaches, theme parks and similar entertainment venues on top of their minds. This may explain why they included three Florida cities in this exclusive list.

But when they decide to engage in international travel, they are still seduced by traditional world-class destinations like Rome, Paris or Barcelona. 

Let’s see where Americans are heading for this Memorial Day weekend and the rest of the season.

10 Top Domestic Destinations 

  1. Orlando, Florida
  2. Seattle, Washington
  3. New York, New York
  4. Las Vegas, Nevada
  5. Anaheim/Los Angeles, California
  6. Denver, Colorado
  7. Anchorage, Alaska
  8. Fort Lauderdale, Florida
  9. Miami, Florida 
  10. Boston, Massachusetts 

10 Top International Destinations 

  1. Rome, Italy
  2. Vancouver, B.C., Canada 
  3. London, England 
  4. Paris, France 
  5. Dublin, Ireland
  6. Amsterdam, Netherlands
  7. Athens, Greece 
  8. Barcelona, Spain 
  9. St. George, Bermuda 
  10. Edinburgh, Scotland 

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