RICHMOND, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – AAA predicts nearly 1.2 million Virginians will be traveling a distance of 50 miles or more this holiday Weekend. That’s nearly four percent higher than last year and would be the second busiest Memorial Day weekend in Virginia since AAA started tracking holiday travel back in 2000.

Nearly 9 out of every 10 holiday travelers in the Commonwealth, or 1.06 million, will be hitting the roads for the unofficial start to the summer.  Auto travel is predicted to be up nearly four percent over last year and would be similar to the number of travelers who drove to their destinations for the unofficial start to summer in the pre-pandemic days of 2019.

Air travel is predicted to set another new Memorial Day Holiday record for Virginia, soaring past last year’s travel volume by more than 4%. More than 102,000 travelers are predicted to jet off to their holiday destinations, which is nearly 7% higher than the number of air travelers Virginia saw back in 2019.

The other category makes up a small portion of holiday travelers, but it continues to grow post-COVID. Nearly 35,000 are predicted to travel by bus, rail, or cruise ship over the long holiday weekend. That’s up 4% from last year and up 15% from 2019.