Second highest holiday travel expectancy sine 2019.
Over the most popular holiday travel period, around 115.2 million travelers are expected to travel 50 miles or more from home, according to AAA. The total number of travelers for this year is expected to be 2.2% higher than for the previous year and the second highest since AAA started tracking holiday travel in 2000. Coming close to the busiest holiday travel period ever in 2019 with 119 million travelers.
What is AAA?
AAA stands for the American Automobile Association which is a federation of motor clubs throughout North America.
Automobile Travel
Nearly 104 million people are expected to drive to their vacation destinations, according to AAA, a 1.8% increase from 2022. After 108 million drivers took to the roads for the holidays in 2019, this year’s predicted number of drivers is the second-highest on record. Drivers can expect to pay around the same amount for gas as they did last holiday season.
Air travel
Over the Christmas and New Year’s travel period, airports are predicted to experience their highest volume of traffic ever. This holiday season, AAA predicts 7.5 million passengers, breaking the record of 7.3 million set in 2019. Compared to last year, average ticket prices have slightly decreased. The average cost of a round-trip ticket to Orlando during the holiday season is $613, which is less than the $735 it was last year, according to AAA booking data. In 2022, a round-trip ticket to Las Vegas cost $705, but it is now only $508 today.
When you should and shouldn’t travel this holiday season
A supplier of transportation data and insights, predicts that during the 10-day holiday period, there may be several days with particularly heavy traffic. The busiest days on the road will be Thursday, December 28, and Saturday, December 23. According to INRIX, there will be more traffic on Saturday, December 30, than usual because more people will be returning home from their vacation spots or traveling for New Year’s Eve. Before noon or after 7 p.m. are the ideal times to go driving.