AAA: Record number of travelers expected for holiday season

AAA SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND is predicting that travel this holiday season will be the highest on record since 2001. / COURTESY AAA
AAA SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND is predicting that travel this holiday season will be the highest on record since 2001. / COURTESY AAA

PROVIDENCE – AAA is predicting that nationwide, a record 98.6 million Americans, including 4.2 million New Englanders, will travel 50 or miles from home during the Dec. 23 to Jan. 4 holiday-travel period, an increase of 4 percent from last year.
AAA said that travel this holiday season has the potential to be the highest on record since 2001, as nearly 91 percent of travelers are expected to celebrate the holidays with a road trip. Air travel also is forecast to grow 1 percent from 2013, with 5.7 million travelers taking to the skies.
Low gasoline prices continue to help boost disposable income, AAA said, noting the national average gas price is under $3 a gallon.
“’Tis the season for holiday travel, and this year more Americans will join with friends and family to celebrate the holidays and ring in the New Year than ever before,” Lloyd P. Albert, AAA Southern New England senior vice president of public and government affairs, said in a statement. “While the economy continues to improve at an uneven pace, it seems more Americans are looking forward with increasing consumer confidence, rather than looking back at the recession. This is helping to drive expected travel volumes to the highest level we have seen for the year-end holidays.
“Lower gas prices are filling stockings with a little more cash to spend on travel this year as travelers are expected to pay the lowest prices since 2009,” Albert added. “Lower prices are increasing disposable income and enabling families to set aside money for travel this year.”
Nearly 4 percent more New Englanders are expected to travel this year compared with last year, and 4.2 percent more are expected to travel by car.
Because the holidays land on a Thursday, the holiday travel season is one day longer than last year’s season and the longest since 2008, offering travelers more options for departures and return trips. This makes it possible for more people to fit holiday travel into their schedules, AAA said.
AAA urges motorists to be extra careful about the dangers of impaired driving. According to data from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety’s annual Traffic Safety Culture Index, one in eight of all licensed drivers who drink at least occasionally reported having driven when they thought their alcohol level might have been close to, or possibly over, the legal limit in the past year.
“Despite the ubiquitous warnings about drinking and driving, especially during the holiday season, an average of one alcohol-impaired driving death occurs every 45 minutes,” Albert said.

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