Memorial Day: Less Car, More Air Travel?

More locals who want to get away this Memorial Day are leaving the car behind and planning to travel by air, experts say.

Car travelers are still the majority at 2.2 million planning road trips. But an 11.4 percent increase in air travel is projected, with 288,000 Southern Californians expected to fly during the holiday weekend, according to the Auto Club of Southern California.

Overall travel is expected to stay around the same level as last year. About 2.62 million locals are predicted to take overnight getaways at least 50 miles away from home, which is just a slight increase from last year.

“Travel continued to see an uptick in early 2011, particularly for those booking vacations well in advance," said Filomena Andre, the Auto Club's vice president for travel products and services, in a statement Monday. "We're hearing from members that they will adjust their spending to make sure they can take a vacation this holiday weekend and throughout this summer."

Where are people planning to retreat? According to a poll of Auto Club travel agents, the top destinations this Memorial Day weekend for Southern California travelers are:

1. Las Vegas
2. San Diego
3. San Francisco
4. Central Coast (Santa Barbara to Monterey)
5. Disneyland 

Nationwide, the number of people expected to travel this Memorial Day weekend rose slightly by 0.2 percent, reaching 30.88 million, according to the Auto Club.