4.4 Million Californians Hitting the Road this Memorial Day Weekend

By City News Service, photo via shutterstock

Around 4.4 million residents from throughout the state will take a long getaway this Memorial Day weekend -- a 4.6 percent increase over last year and the largest overall number of Memorial Day holiday travelers from the Golden State since 2005, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California.

The Auto Club defines a holiday trip as one at least 50 miles away from home. The Memorial Day holiday travel period runs from Thursday to Monday. This year, 2.76 million Southern Californians and 4.44 million statewide are expected to take a long weekend getaway, according to an Auto Club statement.

The figures, 4.6 percent higher than in 2014, represent the largest number of Memorial Day travelers since the all-time record -- set in 2005 -- of 3.2 million in the Southland and 5.18 million statewide. They also represent the biggest one-year jump in Memorial Day holiday travel since 2010.

Statewide, about 83 percent of the projected 4.44 million travelers, or 3.73 million, are expected to go by car, a 5.6 percent increase over 2014. About 419,000 statewide are projected to fly, a 2.6 percent increase from 2014, and 294,000 will go by other means, which is a 3.4 percent decrease from 2014.

Nationally, travel is expected to increase by 4.7 percent compared to last year’s Memorial Day holiday, with 37.2 million travelers expected, compared to 35.5 million in 2014. Car travel is expected to rise by 5.3 percent to 33 million, while air travel is expected to rise 2.5 percent this year to 2.6 million. “Other” travel will drop 3.6 percent to 1.6 million.

The Auto Club said a survey of AAA travel agent indicated top Memorial Day destinations for Southern California travelers are, in this order, San Diego, San Francisco, the Grand Canyon, Mexico (cruises, flights and drive trips) and Las Vegas.