Millions will travel by car this weekend for the Thanksgiving holiday, according to AAA.
AAA projects 50.9 million Americans will journey 50 miles or more away from home this Thanksgiving, a 3.3 percent increase over last year. The 2017 holiday weekend will see the highest Thanksgiving travel volume since 2005 with 1.6 million more people taking to the nation’s roads, skies, rails and waterways compared with last year.
“An uptick in the economy has given travelers plenty to be thankful for this year, and we expect travel to remain plentiful through the holidays” said Jim Lehman, President, AAA East Central. “Most Americans can enjoy time spent with friends and family.”
Mid Atlantic region that includes New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania included the following Thanksgiving Forecast Highlights:
• Thanksgiving holiday travelers will total 6.08 million, an increase of 3.5% from the 5.87 million in 2016.
• 5.4 million will travel by automobile, up 3.4% from last year’s number of 5.2 million.
• 529,000 people will fly to their destinations, up 5.3% from the previous year’s amount of 502,000.
The Thanksgiving holiday travel period is defined as Wednesday, Nov. 22 to Sunday, Nov. 26.
Travelers still hitting the road despite higher gas prices While AAA expects most U.S. drivers will pay the highest Thanksgiving gas prices since 2014, the vast majority of holiday travelers (89.3 percent) are still planning to hit the road.
Automobile travel will grow by 3.2 percent this Thanksgiving, with 45.5 million Americans planning a holiday road trip.
Despite recent declines in the national average price for gasoline, the residual impact of recent months’ hurricanes linger. Today’s national average price is $2.542, which is 40 cents more than last year.