With Thanksgiving out of the way, the US’s next big travel period — Christmas through New Year’s — could be busier than ever, say industry officials.
“In all probability, the Christmas travel survey will show higher results” than last year, said AAA Auto Club South spokesman Gregg Laskoski.
He and others say holiday travel may set new records.
AAA and other travel organizations have yet to make their forecasts for the next holiday season but predictions are it will overshadow the last one.
AAA’s Thanksgiving weekend forecast found almost 39 million Americans on the road, a figure that was up 2.7% from last year’s Thanksgiving period.
AAA last year found that about 63 million Americans traveled at least 50 miles from home for the Christmas-New Year’s holiday period.
A factor encouraging travelers: gas prices.
Fuel prices are expected to remain down in the fourth quarter through December, according to Antoine Smith, an information specialist for the US Energy Department’s Energy Administration.
The price now is about $2.25 a gallon, down from $2.83 last summer.
There’s also been no disruption in the fuel industry, travel analysts say.
But federal energy officials say look out for next year. Oil prices are expected to go up in January when there’s more demand for home heating oil in the northeast.
Report by David Wilkening
