3.6M Texans will travel for Memorial Day, a 4.2% increase from 2023, AAA reports

TEXAS — AAA predicts that the most Texans will travel for Memorial Day this year since the association started tracking holiday travel rates in the year 2000.

About 3.6 million Texans will travel for the holiday in 2024, a 4.2% increase from 2023. The data includes people taking trips over 50 miles away from home during the period of Thursday, May 23 through Monday, May 27.

“Memorial Day is the unofficial start to summer and many friends and families are planning to spend the holiday weekend at cookouts, popular landmarks and even taking international vacations,” said Galen Grillo, vice president and general manager of AAA Texas. “Bucket list trips and solo travel are top travel trends our travel advisors are seeing this year and 2024 is shaping up to be the busiest year for travel ever.”

Within the Lone Star State, the top travel destinations for Memorial Day are Galveston, Corpus Christi, state parks, the San Antonio River Walk, Fredericksburg and the Hill Country. Among the large metros, Houston, Dallas and Austin will see an increase in visitors for the holiday.

Of those traveling, 3.1 million will travel by car, 296,000 will travel by air and 152,000 will take an alternate form of transportation such as a train, boat or bus.

AAA has rounded up the best and worst times to travel by car during the five-day period before Memorial Day. For those traveling on May 23, the best time to take off is before 11 a.m. or after 7 p.m. Those traveling on Memorial Day on May 27 should avoid being on the road until after 7 p.m., since the worst travel times are between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Gas prices will be similar to 2023, when the national average was about $3.57. The national average is currently $3.61 and the average in Texas is $3.18.