Preparing for Memorial Day weekend travel

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) - Memorial Day weekend is coming soon, and travelers can expect more traffic and more expensive hotel rooms. That's due to a big jump in the amount of travelers expected for Memorial Day 2024. Here's what you need to know to get a head start on preparing for the three-day weekend. 

Studies from AAA Idaho show almost 44 million Americans will travel for Memorial Day weekend. That includes more than 260,000 Idahoans.

"That's a sizable jump--another 1.8 million people more than a year ago, and a million more than pre-pandemic levels. We’re just about to the high water mark of 44 million that we set in 2005,” says AAA Idaho Public & Government Affairs Director, Matthew Conde.

Conde says these travel numbers show the country is recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. Similar travel increases were seen a few years after 9/11 and the Great Recession of 2008.

To avoid major traffic, Conde says the best times to travel for Memorial Day are during the Thursday and Friday mornings before the holiday. 

"You want to avoid the afternoons of Thursday and Friday wherever possible because that's when you're going to see the evening commuters kind of co-mingling with the vacationers. You could end up having a lot of people on the road at the same time."

Traffic isn't the only thing to prepare for during the three-day weekend. Hotels often increase their prices around and during the summer, which makes good business sense for them, since people go on fewer vacations during the fall.

"They try and make the most of the traffic that they get. You'll see price increases as a result of the demand, the variety of hotels we have in the area,” said President & CEO of the Greater Idaho Falls Chamber of Commerce, Paul Baker.

Another thing to keep in mind is Memorial Day kicks off Idaho's one hundred deadliest days, which runs until Labor Day. So make sure to be especially careful on the roads during this time.