AAA's Robert Sinclair joins the AccuWeather Network to provide the latest holiday travel outlook for Labor Day including trends, popular destinations and cost while offering travel safety tips.

Labor Day marks the final major travel weekend of the summer in the United States, with many Americans planning getaways to popular destinations such as Seattle, Orlando, New York, Boston, Anchorage, Chicago, Atlanta, Denver, Miami, and Las Vegas. Cruising has seen a notable increase in popularity, with Seattle, Anchorage, and Vancouver serving as key departure points for Alaskan cruises. The number of cruise travelers is expected to exceed 19 million this year, up from 11.9 million in 2022.

Travelers are seeing lower prices for flights, hotels, and rental cars compared to the previous year, partly due to reduced international tourism to the US. Gasoline prices are also slightly lower, though they remain a concern for many drivers. Traffic is expected to be heaviest on Saturday, especially from mid-morning to early evening, with early departures recommended to avoid congestion.

Labor Day weekend destinations and travel outlook

I appreciate you joining us here with Labor Day upon us. It's the last big travel weekend of summer, and many Americans are trying to get in one final getaway. All right, joining us, and I have to say, I'm gonna speak for both of us, one of our faves. Oh, yeah, top five. Not even close. Well, one of our faves. Yeah. Top five, easily. Robert Sinclair, Jr., Senior Manager of Public Affairs at AAA Northeast. Robert, always good to see you, sir. Good to see you. Thank you very much for having me. You make me feel real good. Thank you. Well, that's why we love having you, and let's get right into it. What are the most popular destinations this Labor Day weekend? Well, interestingly, the most popular destinations, to give you the list quickly, Seattle, Orlando, New York, Boston, Anchorage, Chicago, Atlanta, Denver, Miami, Las Vegas. Now, two of those domestic top 10 destinations, and one of the international top 10 destinations have to do with a phenomenon that is just sweeping the country, and that's cruising. Seattle and Anchorage are popular on the domestic side, and Vancouver is most popular on the international side. Seattle and Vancouver are jumping off points for cruises to Alaska, and when people are cruising to Alaska, they go to Anchorage, and cruising is just through the roof. Going back to 2022, we saw a total of 11.9 million crews that year. This year, we're anticipating more than 19 million-plus will be cruising. It's just a very popular thing to do. Pay one price. You know what you're going to pay up front, and you don't have to worry about anything else. Just send the gangplank, and there are cruise ports just about on every coast, East Coast, Gulf Coast, West Coast, so most population centers are near the coast, so it's a very easy thing to do for people to take a quick cruise. You answered my question. You probably heard me kind of whisper it. I was like, thinking, I was like, why all of a sudden now are cruises so popular? But you answered it. All right, let's talk about flights and hotel prices compared to this time last year. Both lower, significantly lower, and it's demand. Airline travel is still very strong. In fact, TSA is setting records for those who will be screened. They think the busiest days have been since May, and that's ever, and hotel rates and rental car rates are both lower. We are one of the largest leisure travel agencies in the country, and we talked to counselors. They say, well, maybe not that many international travelers are coming to the US this year as in years gone by, and that's freed up a lot of hotel space. Considering Las Vegas, there are more than 150,000 hotel rooms to be filled, so that's a very popular destination. You can probably get some good deals if you go there. All right, what should drivers expect, though, when it comes to the all-important gas prices? Gasoline prices are significantly lower. We're at 320 per gallon now. Last year, we were at 335. We've seen a little bit of a bump in prices in the last week or so. I think that's the retailers are anticipating a lot of cars on the road for the holiday, the last hurrah of the summer, but gasoline prices for a significant part of the population are still a little difficult. We've done surveys where 40% of drivers say $3 a gallon is the pain point for the price of gasoline, that they'd have to cut back in some other area of the family budget to pay for gasoline at that price, and we are over that price, so while a lot of people will be taking a driving trip for the holiday, I think the economy is still a little tough for a significant portion. They'll probably be staying closer to home, the so-called staycation, or traveling very few miles for doing something with the family, the last hurrah, but a lot of the kids have already gone off to college, so I think that affects things as well. I guess mom and dad are coming to visit you at college then. All right, this weekend, what are the best and worst times to be out on the roads? Well, Saturday is going to be real tough, practically all day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. It's going to be the worst time to be on the road, just about for the holidays. We tell people to get out before 1 p.m. or noon. That would count for Thursday and Friday. The best travel time on Saturday would be 6 to 10 a.m., Sunday before 11 a.m., Monday before noon, so keep those things in mind, and you have to remember that if you're in one of those big cities that is among the popular destinations that you'll have a lot of people coming to your destination, going from your destination, traveling through where you are, so you have to keep those things in mind. The earlier the start, the better. Go to sleep early, wake up early, and get a good head start. If your destination's 200 miles away, it takes about four hours, usually, so if you leave at 6 a.m., you'll be there at 10 a.m. Plenty of time to enjoy yourself. I love it, so well said. That's why you're one of our favorites. Robert Sinclair, Jr., Senior Manager of Public Affairs at AAA Northeast. Thanks again for joining us on AccuWeather Early, and hope you have some good plans for this Labor Day holiday. Thank you very much for having me.

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