A record 61.6 million people in the U.S. are expected to travel by car during the Fourth of July holiday week, which would be 1.3 million or 2.2% higher compared to the same period last year, AAA said in a recent release.

AAA's forecast comprises the period between June 28 and July 6, which include two weekends instead of one to better reflect the flow of holiday travelers.

Including domestic air travelers, AAA projects an all-time high of 72.2 million people will travel at least 50 miles from home during the period. That would be an increase of 1.7 million compared to the same period last year and 7 million higher than 2019, according to AAA.

Travel by other modes including bus, train or cruise is expected to grow 7.4% over last year, with cruising driving the popularity of this category, AAA said.

"Following Memorial Day's record forecast, AAA is seeing strong demand for road trips and air travel over Independence Day week," Stacey Barber, vice president of AAA Travel said in a statement.

However, the OPIS Demand Report, which collects data from more than 30,000 gas stations across the U.S., showed average U.S. station gasoline volume were down slightly since Memorial Day on May 26.

Last week, the Transportation Security Administration said it expects 18.5 million air travelers to pass through its security checkpoints at U.S. airports during the holiday period between July 1 and July 7, with the highest passenger volume expected on Sunday, July 6.

During the same week in 2024, TSA's data showed the agency screened about 18.4 million air travelers, which set a record for the period.

With the Fourth of July falling on a Friday this year, travelers have the option to make it a long weekend or take the entire week as vacation, which could also boost travel volume and fuel consumption.

This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

   --Reporting by Frank Tang, ftang@opisnet.com; Editing by Michael Kelly,   mkelly@opisnet.com 
 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 30, 2025 12:16 ET (16:16 GMT)

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