FILE: Traffic on Interstate 5 through Portland, Ore., March 26, 2024. AAA Oregon expects hundreds of thousands of Oregonians to hit the road for Memorial Day weekend.
Brooke Herbert / OPB
Hundreds of thousands of Oregonians plan to travel over this Memorial Day weekend. Most will go on road trips, but many will be flying as well.
Marie Dodds with AAA Oregon said the organization is expecting nearly 44 million Americans to travel for the holiday weekend, which is close to the record in 2005. She said beaches and places with warm weather are popular destinations, as well as theme parks.
“Anaheim in fact is the top domestic destination for members of AAA Oregon” she said. “And the top regional destination is Bend. Top international destination is Rome for members of AAA Oregon.”
Most people will be traveling by car — some 38.4 million nationally, which Dodds said is the highest number for Memorial Day since AAA started tracking in 2000.
Air travel will rival the 2005 record, with 3.5 million people flying to their destinations.
Dodds said people seem willing to spend their money on travel despite inflation.
“We’re still seeing that pent-up demand for travel, after the [COVID-19] pandemic when people had a few years where they couldn’t travel or were reluctant to travel,” Dodds said. “So, travel is back now and we are beating those pre-pandemic years of 2018 and 2019 when it comes to volume.”
Dodds said gas prices are about where they were a year ago as are air fares. The busiest travel days will be the Thursday and Friday before the weekend, Memorial Day itself, and the following Tuesday.
Dodds said she recommends being patient and preparing for more people on the roads and at airports.