Get ready Lincoln City! Here come the visitors! After a fairly calm winter/early spring we can look forward to many travelers choosing Lincoln City and surrounding coastal towns as their destinations of choice this Memorial Day weekend.
Thankfully (for Lincoln City at least) there are no large road improvement projects happening on Hwy 101. Much concern has been expressed about the coming traffic problems that may arise once two new multi-unit housing projects are completed on the edge of Wecoma and Oceanlake districts and become open to tenants. But for now, the projects are still unoccupied though nearing completion.
The American Automobile Association (AAA) projects 43.8 million travelers will head 50 miles or more from home over the Memorial Day holiday travel period. “This year’s total number of travelers is a 4% increase over last year and comes close to matching 2005’s record of 44 million Memorial Day travelers.
We haven’t seen Memorial Day weekend travel numbers like these in almost 20 years,” said Paula Twidale, Senior Vice President of AAA Travel. “We’re projecting an additional one million travelers this holiday weekend compared to 2019, which not only means we’re exceeding pre-pandemic levels but also signals a very busy summer travel season ahead.”
Road trips are expected to set a record. AAA projects 38.4 million people will travel by car over Memorial Day weekend, the highest number for that holiday since AAA began tracking in 2000. The number of drivers this year is up 4% compared to last year and 1.9% higher than in 2019. Traveling by car is appealing for many people because of the convenience and flexibility it provides. AAA car rental partner Hertz says Orlando, Denver, Atlanta, Boston and Las Vegas are the cities displaying the highest rental demand, with the busiest pick-up days projected to be Thursday, May 23 and Friday, May 24.
Gas prices in Oregon still exceed the national average by nearly seventy cents per gallon so that may hamper some day trip travel and possibly encourage 3 day weekend stays.
Either way-we’ve invited them. Let’s show them our best.
