May 20th, 2020 by WCBC Radio

Last year, AAA Mid-Atlantic forecast a record-setting 918,000 Marylanders would travel 50 miles or more for the Memorial Day holiday weekend. This year will look much, much different. For the first time in 20 years, AAA will not issue a Memorial Day travel forecast, as the accuracy of the economic data used to create the forecast has been undermined by COVID-19.

 

While Maryland is not currently under a statewide stay at home order, three counties and Baltimore City remain under local stay at home orders while four other counties have only partially moved into Stage One reopenings. For county-by-county information, please visit https://governor.maryland.gov/recovery/.

• Americans should heed all official warnings and refer to the latest updates from the CDC and U.S. Department of State to help decrease the spread of COVID-19.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continues to recommend that Americans stay home and avoid nonessential travel.
• Anecdotal reports suggest fewer people will hit the road compared to years past for what is considered the unofficial start of the summer travel season.
• Last year, 43 million Americans traveled for Memorial Day Weekend – the second-highest travel volume on record since AAA began tracking holiday travel volumes in 2000.
• With social distancing guidelines still in practice, this holiday weekend’s travel volume is likely to set a record low.
• Memorial Day 2009 (toward the end of the Great Recession) currently holds the record for the lowest travel volume at nearly 31 million travelers, according to AAA.
• Tuesday’s national average for a gallon of regular gasoline is $1.88. The last time the national gas price average leading into the holiday was under $2/gallon was in 2003.

Historical Memorial Day Gas Prices

 

	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	5/19/2020
Maryland	$2.69	$2.33	$2.39	$2.98	$2.77	$1.88
Annapolis	$2.66	$2.30	$2.37	$2.96	$2.75	$1.91
Baltimore	$2.68	$2.32	$2.38	$2.98	$2.75	$1.91
Cumberland	$2.69	$2.40	$2.41	$2.93	$2.87	$1.84
Frederick	$2.70	$2.34	$2.36	$2.98	$2.76	$1.92
Hagerstown	$2.67	$2.33	$2.31	$2.87	$2.76	$1.87
Salisbury	$2.55	$2.19	$2.33	$2.88	$2.63	$1.90
Washington Suburbs (MD only)	$2.73	$2.36	$2.41	$3.03	$2.85	$2.05