Holiday travel is seeing an increase for the fourth consecutive year. AAA projects 43.6 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home over Thanksgiving weekend. That is an increase of .7 percent over last year.
The increase follows the trend of for the last four years, after a sharp 25 percent decline in travel in 2008 left the travel industry struggling.
"Thanksgiving travel hit a decade
low in 2008 when only 37.8 million Americans traveled," said AAA President and
CEO Robert Darbelnet. "Since that year we have seen a steady increase in the
number of travelers taking to the roads and skies for the holiday. Americans
continue to find ways to economize their budgets so they can gather around the
holiday table to carve the turkey."
With so many people planning to travel away from home this Thanksgiving, it should be noted that the Wednesday before the holiday is expected to be the busiest travel day of the year. Nearly 45 percent of those planning to travel over the holiday are expecting to leave Wednesday, with nearly 36 percent planning on returning home the Sunday after Thanksgiving.
For more information about traveling over the busy holiday weekend, go to www.aaane.com.
