Dive Brief:
- Some 119.3 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home between Dec. 21, 2024, and Jan. 1, 2025, AAA forecasted last week.
- The projected number of travelers is greater than last year’s by 3 million, and surpasses the previous record, which was set in 2019, by 64,000, per AAA.
- Industry experts have forecast that U.S. travelers will take more and longer trips this holiday season, and many Americans have higher seasonal travel budgets this year.
Dive Insight:
Christmas Day falling on a Wednesday has led AAA to anticipate “record-breaking travel numbers the weekend before and the weekend after the holiday,” AAA Travel Vice President Stacey Barber said in a statement.
This year’s projected travel numbers are up 2.8% when compared to 2023, and 0.1% when compared to 2019.
Approximately 90% of holiday travelers will be driving to their destinations in 2024, a 2.4% increase over last year. Air travel, however, is expected to set a new record this year, with AAA forecasting 7.85 million air passengers.
Though flights are 4% more expensive this holiday season than last year’s, according to AAA, travel industry experts previously told Hotel Dive that many Americans have higher seasonal travel budgets this year.
Travelers expect to spend $3,294 on average for their longest holiday trip, according to Deloitte’s 2024 Holiday Travel Survey, and PwC’s Holiday Outlook 2024 found that American consumers planning to travel this holiday season are less concerned about hotel costs than they were in 2023.
Some 66% percent of Americans said they were more likely or equally as likely to stay in a hotel this fall or winter compared to a year ago, according to a survey from the American Hotel & Lodging Association, released last month.
