While cities and states continue to be amidst the Covid-19 outbreakTravelers in the US seem eager to get back on the road and resume their summer trips. After a Increase in domestic travel Memorial Day weekend, the July 4th holiday will likely be the busiest domestic travel period to date since the U.S. pandemic began in early March.
It’s a trend that could last the rest of the summer. In total, Americans will make more than 700 million trips between July 1 and September 30 current report from AAA. Most US travelers “are likely to book more weekend getaways than longer vacations,” said Paula Twidale, AAA’s senior vice president of travel, in a statement. At least for the holiday weekend on July 4th, the booking prices for Rental car, Airfares, House stocksand hotels are reportedly on the rise.
“Fourth weekend of July trip readings are strong,” says Erik Albert, owner of Oak Bluffs Inn in Martha’s vineyard. Albert said reservations at the inn spiked on June 14, the day after Massachusetts announced that hotels could accept guests who weren’t essential workers. “We’re almost full on the weekend of the fourth and we’re waiting for it [completely] Book. When comparing the numbers with last year, I think we will improve a bit, “he says.
Like Martha’s Vineyard, other destinations typically popular for July 4th getaways are seeing a surge in bookings, especially if they’re easily accessible by car. According to VRBO, a home rental company, demand for vacation homes within 500 miles of a traveler’s place of residence has increased 15 percent year over year. The demand for vacation homes in the Hamptons on New York’s Long Island has more than doubled compared to the previous year, according to VRBO. Rentals in other locations on the beach such as the Florida Panhandle, the Gulf Shores in Alabama, Hilton Head Island and Myrtle Beach in South Carolina and Cape Cod, Massachusetts, The demand from travelers after the holiday weekend has also increased.
“Bookings have been extremely strong, probably a pace we haven’t seen in the seven years we’ve been doing this since buying Gurney’s,” said George Filopoulos, owner of Gurney’s Resorts two properties in Montauk, New York, and one in Newport, Rhode Island. “The holiday on July 4th at this point in time is about 25 percent above the previous year’s figure.”
The majority of July 4th travel reservations, especially for hotels, appeared to be in a deluge as the surrounding regions reopened.
“What we really didn’t expect and what really surprised us is just the speed and demand on the temporary side,” says Filopoulos, referring to hotel guests who are not part of a group rate and who book shorter stays or at the last minute . “We [also] many have long stays; We have a lot of families coming out in June. It was a really surprising month, and July and August are equally busy at this point, “he says. According to Filopoulos, Gurney’s booking pace for July is up 40 percent year-over-year.
Do you also see a sustained increase over the holiday weekend? Car rental companies. According to the travel metasuch website Kayak, searches for rental cars in the US are up 20 percent year over year. Major cities, including New York, Chicagoand Washington, DC, saw the most significant spikes in rental car searches for July fourth, rising between 20 percent and more than 100 percent. (Search for rental cars for vacation in Brooklyn, New York is up 115 percent, according to Kayak’s data). Demand for road trips was so significant that Kayak sat for the first time Rental car instead of flights on his homepage. According to the AAA, 97 percent of trips this summer will be made by car.
