Minnesotans hitting the road for Labor Day weekend can expect lower prices at the pump than they found a year ago, despite an uptick in travel as a record-setting summer comes to a close.
Traveling over Labor Day weekend? Here’s what to expect
Crowds might be bigger at the airport and on the road, but prices — including gas — are down from last year.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
August 29, 2024 at 12:01PM
Regular gas is hovering around $3.20 a gallon in Minnesota and bordering states, compared to about $3.65 a year ago, according to AAA. Nationally, the average price is nearly $3.40 a gallon, down about 40 cents from this time in 2023.
“Despite the popularity of summer road trips, overall gas demand is down as daily driving habits have changed post-pandemic, tempering price spikes,” AAA said in a news release.
The cost of domestic travel during Labor Day weekend has dropped 2% overall, AAA’s national office reported, while bookings have risen 9% compared with last year. According to booking website Kayak, Labor Day weekend airfare is down 7% year-over-year.
A decline in demand from the heights of post-pandemic “revenge travel” is likely contributing to lower prices, said Matthias Keller, Kayak’s chief scientist and senior vice president of technology. Still, he said, this weekend should be a busy one, particularly for domestic travel into major metropolitan areas and gateways to natural attractions — Alaskan cruises via Seattle, for example.
“From a demand perspective, Labor Day weekend is extremely popular,” Keller said. “It is the end of summer; it seems to be the last chance to get away.”
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport is expecting about 44,000 people to pass through security checkpoints Thursday and Monday, according to Metropolitan Airports Commission spokesman Jeff Lea.
Monday will be the busiest day for Minneapolis-based Sun Country Airlines, according to spokeswoman Wendy Burt, as Minnesotans return home. Popular destinations this weekend include Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Denver, Phoenix and Seattle, she said.
Though MSP won’t be as crowded as it was midsummer — or as it likely will be for MEA weekend in October — airport officials are still advising travelers to arrive early, Lea said.
“We’re winding down a very busy summer — probably the busiest summer in five years,” he said.
Nationally, the Transportation Security Administration is anticipating its busiest Labor Day weekend ever. The agency is expecting more than 17 million travelers to pass through security, it said in a news release, including 2.86 million on Friday.
As for hotels in Minnesota, Hospitality Minnesota President and CEO Angie Whitcomb said she has “observed a general uptick in Labor Day weekend bookings across the state, particularly in popular tourist destinations like Duluth and the Brainerd Lakes Area.”
“Minneapolis’ Labor Day weekend bookings are trending slightly lower compared to last year due to the absence of major events like last year’s Gay Softball World Series,” Whitcomb said in a statement. “However, some of our downtown hotels, particularly individual luxury properties, are reporting high occupancy rates and anticipate continued strong business through the fall and winter seasons.”
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