According to AAA, nearly 49 million Americans are making plans to honor the 143rd  Independence Day getaway this year, 2.6 million of those will be Floridians.

Travel for the holiday is expected to rise 4.1% over last year, with an additional 1.9 million people planning road trips and other vacations to celebrate America’s birthday. The 2019 Independence Day holiday period is defined as the five-day period of Wednesday, July 3 to Sunday, July 7, which is actually one day shorter than last year.

Lower gas prices than last summer, a strong economy, sustained low unemployment, powerful consumer spending, and increasing disposable incomes are all motivating consumers to allocate some of their hard-earned money into travel this summer.

Fun-in-the-sun locales like Orlando and Honolulu lead the top 5 list of popular destinations for American travelers this Independence Day, based on advance AAA Travel bookings:

Orlando, Florida
Honolulu, Hawaii
Seattle, Washington
Las Vegas, Nevada
Anaheim, California

“As Independence Day approaches, it’s time for the much loved family road trip and this year will be one for the record books, with more Americans than ever planning vacations,” said Paula Twidale, vice president, AAA Travel. “This holiday builds on the strong travel demand seen for Memorial Day, and with schools now out of session across the country, families coast to coast are eager to travel.”

For the 41.4 million Americans traveling by automobile this Independence Day, INRIX, in collaboration with AAA, predicts drivers will experience the largest amount of congestion on Wednesday, July 3 as commuters mix with holiday travelers.

Automobiles: The vast majority of travelers – 41.4 million – will hit the road, the most on record for the holiday and 4.3% more than last year.

Planes: 3.96 million people will fly to their destinations, the highest number on record and 5.3% more than last year.

Trains, Buses and Cruise Ships: This travel sector will increase by 0.6% to 3.55 million passengers.

According to Trevor Reed, transportation analyst at INRIX, a global mobility analytics company, “Although travel times are expected to nominally increase throughout the week, hands down, Wednesday afternoon will be the worst time to be on the road.”

With today’s national average of $2.66, gas prices are 19 cents less year-over-year and expected to drop even lower into the summer. This is motivating record numbers of travelers to take road trips for the holiday weekend.

• The 2019 Independence Day holiday travel volume of 48.9 million will be the highest on record, since AAA began tracking holiday travel 19 years ago.
• 2019 will be the sixth consecutive year of travel growth during the Independence Day holiday period.
• Automobile travel will increase for the sixth straight year to 41.4 million motorists, the most on record.
• Air travel volume will rise for the 10th straight year and will be the highest travel volume on record for this mode of transportation, reaching 3.96 million this year.
• 3.55 million people will use other modes of travel (including bus, rail and cruise ship), an increase of 0.6% and the highest volume via these modes since 2007.
• The 2019 Independence Day holiday period is defined as the five-day period of Wednesday, July 3 to Sunday, July 7.