It's going to be a big travel time this Thanksgiving 2013. According to AAA, 43.4 million Americans are expected to travel 50 miles or more from home during the holiday weekend. However despite the high number, it is a slight decrease of 1.5 percent from the 44 million who traveled last year.
The Thanksgiving holiday travel period is defined as Wednesday, Nov. 27 to Sunday, Dec. 1. And it's going to be a busy one. Last year hit a four-year high after the recession caused travel to drop by 25 percent between 2008 and 2009. This year will still be busy as far as travel goes.
About 90 percent of the travelers or 38.9 million will travel by car, which is 1.6 percent decrease from last year. The median spending is expected to drop nearly seven percent to $465. It was $498 last year. Thanksgiving is surprisingly a less expensive holiday for travelers compared to others. For instance, spending was $804 on average for Labor Day, $749 on Independence Day and $659 for Memorial Day.
Some will take to the skies this Thanksgiving, but it will be slightly lower than last year. About 3.26 million people flew in 2012. This year only 3.14 million will fly, which is a 3.7 percent decrease.
People will be traveling further this holiday as the average distance traveled will increase to 601 miles from 588 miles. The busiest day to travel during the Thanksgiving holiday will be the Wednesday before as 37 percent of travelers will leave on Nov. 27.
"While the economy continues to improve, the sluggish pace of the recovery is creating uncertainty in the minds of some consumers and therefore AAA is projecting a slight decline in the number of Thanksgiving travelers this year," said AAA Chief Operating Officer Marshall L. Doney. "For those traveling the good news is motorists will receive a holiday bonus in the form of lower gas prices which are at their lowest levels for the holiday since 2010."
"The primary focus of Thanksgiving, more so than any other holiday, is to gather with friends, family and loved ones and celebrate with each other. Travelers attempting to carve out a travel budget will be happy to know that Thanksgiving will be the least expensive holiday of the year," continued Doney.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
