Southern California is expected to see its biggest jump in Memorial Day weekend travel since 2010, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California.
The Auto Club’s forecast predicts that 2.76 million Southern Californians and 4.44 million residents statewide will take a long weekend getaway — a 4.6 percent increase over last year.
That would be the largest number of Memorial Day travelers since 2005 when a record 3.2 million Southland residents and 5.2 million Californians took weekend trips.
“That’s a pretty good indication of some health returning to the travel industry,” Auto Club spokeswoman Marie Montgomery said.
Eighty-three percent of Southland travelers (2.3 million) are expected to go by car. That’s a 5.6 percent increase over last year. An additional 260,000 local residents will fly and an estimated 183,000 others will take an RV, bus, train or cruise ship.
This year’s top destination spots, according to an Auto Club survey of AAA travel agents, will be San Diego, San Francisco, the Grand Canyon, Mexico and Las Vegas.
Scores of other travelers will be hitting Southern California’s beaches and campgrounds, but one will be off limits. An oil spill along the southern Santa Barbara coast prompted the closure of Refugio State Beach and its campground.
“We had to close Refugio yesterday because of the spill — and the smell is really bad,” said Dennis Weber, a spokesman for the California Department of Parks and Recreation. “The cleanup crews needed the space to get in and do their job.”
A ruptured oil pipe on the east side of Highway 1 sent an estimated 21,000 gallons of oil down a storm drain and into the ocean Tuesday, creating an oil slick that’s four miles long
Weber said Refugio’s 61 campsites were fully booked for Memorial Day weekend.
“We had to move the ones who were here last night to El Capitan because we had some space there,” he said. “But the people who reserved space at Refugio for the weekend will probably have to get refunds.”
Some of the oil made its way to El Capitan State Beach. That prompted a closure of the day-use area, Weber said, although the campground remains open.
Nice weather
At least the weather is cooperating.
Patchy drizzle is expected late today with a 20 percent chance of showers Friday morning, but the rain is expected to move out later in the day, according to the National Weather Service. The weekend is expected to be partly cloudy with highs in the low 70s and overnight lows in the mid-50s.
Other Southland travelers who are headed to Europe will get plenty of bang for their buck because of the strong U.S. dollar, according to the Auto Club.
Sandy Flemming, who owns World O’ Travel in Woodland Hills, said 35 percent of the travel packages she books are European cruises.
“The economy is better and that gives people more confidence,” she said. “They are more apt to spend money on trips as opposed to just paying the rent and putting food on the table.”
Economist Jordan Levine, director of economic research for Beacon Economics in Los Angeles, said several factors have contributed to rising consumer confidence.
“If you look at the labor market our jobs numbers continue to grow and the unemployment rate has been coming down,” he said. “More folks have the wherewithal to travel now and gas prices are still relatively low compared to where they were a year ago.”
“Relatively low” is a relative term for Southland motorists who saw gas prices fall dramatically in late 2014 before a rash of refinery problems drove them back up this year.
On Wednesday the average price for a gallon of regular in Los Angeles County was nearly $4 a gallon — high, but still 19 cents below the year-ago price of $4.18 a gallon. San Bernardino County prices were close behind, with regular hitting $3.93 a gallon Wednesday, down 20 cents from a year earlier.
Southern California’s theme parks are another hot ticket for Memorial Day travelers and Six Flags Magic Mountain will get an extra boost this weekend when it unveils Twisted Colossus, the world’s longest hybrid roller coaster.
Constructed of wood and steel with 5,000 feet of track, the four-minute ride routes two lines of cars through over-banked turns, inversions and a heart-pounding 116-foot drop.
“There is a lot of buzz about the opening of the ride,” Six Flags spokeswoman Sue Carpenter said. “This will also be the official start of summer, so our Hurricane Harbor water park will be opening next door.”
Catalina Express, which ferries passengers from Long Beach, San Pedro and Dana Point to Catalina Island, will also be hopping this weekend, according reservations clerk Kathy Lerner.
“Some go for the day and others go for the whole weekend,” Lerner said. “A lot of people want to take advantage of the three-day weekend but they don’t want to travel real far.”
