AAA expects record number of travelers this holiday season

• By Nathan Willison / LNP | LancasterOnline

A record number of Americans are expected to hit the road or catch a flight this holiday season, according to a travel forecast released by AAA..

AAA estimates that 122.4 million Americans will travel at least 50 miles from home between Dec. 20 and Jan. 1. This would break the record of 119.7 million travelers set last year.

Driving will make up the vast majority of travel, with 89% of holiday travelers choosing to take a car. AAA attributes the increased travel demand to gas prices dropping nation-wide compared to previous years. This is the cheapest December at the pump since 2020, according to AAA. The national average for a gallon of regular gas currently sits at $2.86. Pennsylvania’s average is higher, at $3.10 as of Saturday.

AAA advises that the best time to travel this time of year is generally in the morning, before 10 or 11 a.m. in order to avoid the worst of the holiday traffic.

In Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is expecting nearly 7.4 million drivers to use the toll road between Dec. 18 and Jan. 1.

The commission estimates that travel peaked on Friday, when 675,000 people used the turnpike system, but will also see substantial traffic on Monday and Tuesday when around 620,000 and 650,000 will use the roadway, respectively.

For Lancaster County travelers, the weekend should provide ideal traveling conditions, according to Kyle Elliott, the director of the Millersville University Weather Information Center.

In a forecast released Friday, Elliott said conditions will be dry, partly sunny with no precipitation expected through Monday. A warm front is expected to move into the region Tuesday and, according to Elliott, could bring mixed precipitation during the Tuesday commute, though most of the activity should occur north of Lancaster County.

Air travel and cruises

While most travelers will be driving this holiday season, AAA says, for the first time on record, more than 8 millions Americans will be choosing to take domestic flights between Dec. 20 and Jan. 1.

The increased demand has coincided with increased prices. A round-trip domestic flight is 7% more expensive this year, averaging nearly $900 a ticket.

Travelers are largely headed for warmer locales than Pennsylvania this time of year, as Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and Miami in Florida, as well as Anaheim, California, and Honolulu, Hawaii, make up AAA’s top domestic travel destinations for the year-end season.

Alternative travel methods have also seen an increase this year.

Around 4.9 million people will travel by other modes of transportation, including buses, trains and cruise ships. Travel in this category has seen over 25% increase since 2019, a fact AAA attributes to growing demand for cruises following the COVID-19 pandemic.