Arrivalist, the travel industry’s leading location intelligence platform, is projecting that road-trip volume in the U.S. over the coming Labor Day holiday weekend will be down just 5.3 percent from 2019, despite pandemic conditions.

The location data firm estimates that 42.5 million Americans will take to the nation’s roadways over the extended weekend to escape the humdrum of daily life amid COVID-19 . Its predictions rely on data from the company’s Daily Travel Index, of which it will also be launching an improved version on September 1 that includes year-over-year insights.

"Americans continue to seek respite on the road," remarked Arrivalist’s Founder and CEO, Cree Lawson. "These latest projections are a promising sign for the travel industry."

The Daily Travel Index uses Arrivalist’s proprietary location data to measure daily travel activity carried out by residents across all 50 U.S. states. Arrivalist’s methodology relies on a balanced, representative panel of GPS signals that accompany trips that are specifically taken by car (excluding air-travel activity), comprised of at least 50 miles and where travelers have spent a minimum of two hours at their destination.

Commuter travel, cargo deliveries and other such repetitive routes are excluded from its measurement, producing a true barometer of drive-market activity for the travel industry.

The upcoming addition of year-over-year data to its Daily Travel Index dating back to January 2019 promises to provide the travel industry with even more acute insights as it plots a path to recovery. Beginning tomorrow, the platform will implement the capability to compare road-based travel activity to pre-pandemic times, as opposed to comparing it to a February 2020 baseline.

Visitors accessing the free, online resource will now be able to see travel trends displayed year-over-year by origin market and mileage bands. Clients can also access a customized Daily Travel Index, which enables them to compare activity in their selected market to a nationwide index.