Topline
Americans are looking to get into nature this Fourth of July and are capitalizing on travel prices that are 17% cheaper than they were around the holiday last year, data from the Priceline travel booking website says, and one destination’s surge in popularity could be thanks to its shoutout on Taylor Swift’s latest album.
A young boy walks on rocks overlooking Emerald Bay near South Lake Tahoe, California.
Key Facts
Airfare to both international and domestic destinations is cheaper for this Fourth of July weekend than it was in the same period last year, Priceline’s data shows, with the average domestic round-trip flight at $308 and international travel for the weekend averaging $639.
For some international destinations—like Toronto, San Jose, Costa Rica and Nassau, Bahamas—round-trip tickets are priced under $450.
Most of this year’s trending destinations center around places known for their connection to nature, like South Lake Tahoe, California, Denver and Salt Lake City, all of which have seen searches for rental cars in the area surge 40%.
Rental car searches are up in general, according to Priceline, with search increases of more than 50% in San Diego, Phoenix, Chicago, Denver and Memphis, Tennessee.
Surprising Fact
Destin, Florida, which Priceline points out was given a shoutout in a song on Taylor Swift’s latest album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” had a 21% increase last month in hotel searches for the Fourth of July. Other cities in the state—including Tampa, Orlando and Miami—are all considered trending destinations for the holiday by Priceline.
Crucial Quote
“Little did you know/Your home’s really only a town you’re just a guest in/So you work your life away/Just to pay for a timeshare down in Destin,” Swift sings in the song “Florida!!!”
Key Background
July is a historically busy time for Americans to travel. On a list of TSA’s highest-volume travel days of all time, four of 10 dates were in July, the most of any singular month, but the Fourth of July wasn’t necessarily the impetus. Only one of the four July dates was near the holiday itself—2.79 million people traveled by air on July 7, 2019 to be TSA’s seventh-busiest travel day of all. The other busy July dates were when 2.81 million people traveled on July 30, 2023 (No. 4 spot), 2.8 million traveled July 23, 2023 (No. 5) and 2.78 million went through TSA screenings on July 28, 2023 (No. 9). Last year, AAA projected more than 50.7 million Americans would travel 50 miles or more from home for the Fourth of July weekend, a new record for the holiday. Of those, only 4.17 million were expected to travel by air. A total of 43.2 million people were expected to drive to their destination and the remaining 3.36 million used other modes of transit, like cruises, buses or trains. AAA has not yet released its 2024 Fourth of July holiday travel prediction.
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