South Florida is a top destination for the Fourth of July holiday
A high cost of living and ominous hurricane forecast this summer are not scaring away tourists on this coming Fourth of July.
Miami is one of the most popular places in the United States to celebrate the country’s birthday, and Fort Lauderdale is holding its own too, according to travel forecasts.
On Priceline, the travel site owned by Booking, Miami is near the top of its list of Most Popular Destinations for July Fourth weekend, broken down by flights, rental cars, and hotels. The Magic City ranked third for flights only behind Las Vegas and New York, and second for rental cars, trailing Los Angeles. It was in seventh place for hotel bookings.
The average cost of a trip to Miami for the Fourth was the following: the average round-trip flight was $276, the average nightly hotel rate was $200, and the average rental car daily rate was $51, according to Priceline.
Priceline found that domestic airfares nationwide for The Fourth are up to 17% cheaper than in the same period last year. Kayak, another travel site also owned by Booking, had a similar finding. It also saw a 7% decrease in an average hotel nightly rate from 2023.
Research from Kayak also pointed to surging demand for South Florida. Miami was its ninth most searched domestic destination.
Meanwhile, travel to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport notched the fifth cheapest airfare in the United States, with an average airfare of $343, according to Kayak. When combining hotel with airfare, it did even better, climbing to second place. Total cost including one night was $570.
Busy airports predicted
The region’s airports are expecting a surge. Miami International Airport forecasts serving 1.1 million passengers from July 1-8, said Greg Chin, communications director for Miami-Dade Aviation Department. That amounts to 156,000 passengers per day and would be a seven percent increase from the same period one year ago.
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport expects 575,700 passengers over the six-day holiday it counts from July 3-8, according to Arlene Satchell, public information officer at the Broward County Aviation Department. That is about 1% more than last year. The three busiest days in this period are expected to be Wednesday, July 3; Saturday, July 6 and Sunday, July 7.
American Airlines expects to serve more than 510,000 passengers over 3,600 flights at Miami International Airport during the 11-day holiday period that runs from June 27 to July 7. The carrier’s busiest travel days will be Saturday, June 29 and Saturday, July 6 with 333 daily departures from MIA.
AAA rankings
AAA projects new travel records will be set nationwide and in Florida on this Independence Day. It estimates more than 70.9 million individuals in the United States will travel 50 miles or more away from home, 3.5 million more than last year. About 4.5 million of them will be from the Sunshine State, a 7% increase from 2023.
In AAA’s ranking of most sought after destinations based on its booking data, Miami ranked fifth and Fort Lauderdale seventh.
“The summer travel season is off to a hot start and we expect to set new travel records on the road and in the sky during the week of Independence Day,” said Debbie Hass, vice president of travel for AAA-The Auto Club Group, in a statement. She said to expect “even more people at airports and popular attractions like beaches, lakes, and theme parks.”
AAA’s numbers are based on a 9-day travel period from Saturday, June 29 to Sunday, July 7.
In its report, it added, “despite concerns about inflation, total travel is increasing on growth in consumer confidence, wages, and continued strength in consumer spending.”
After the Fourth holidays are over, don’t expect much of a slowdown the rest of July.
In Priceline’s list of Domestic Most Popular Destinations for the entire month, Miami ranked first by flight and fourth by hotel.
Average cost of traveling to Miami then is $251 for a round trip flight and average hotel rate is $215 per night.