This is traditionally one of the busiest travel weeks of the year, and the AAA is looking for that trend to continue.
A new report from that organization estimates that 112.7 million people will travel 50 miles or more away from home from Dec. 23 through Jan. 2.
That’s an increase of 3.6 million people from last year, but it’s still 6.6 million fewer travelers compared to the pre-pandemic year of 2019. But even so, the travel club said that it expects this year to be the third-busiest year for holiday travel since it began tracking the data in 2000.
Local AAA spokeswoman Valerie Puma said that some of the busiest times on the roads start with this coming Friday afternoon.
“Heading out for this weekend, the worst travel times are going to be Friday the 23rd from 4 to 7 p.m.,” Puma said. “So try to make your drive before 2 p.m. or after 8 p.m. on Friday. And if you’re traveling on Saturday, Christmas Eve, the worst times on the road will be between noon and 6 p.m. So that’s kind of looking at all day.”
Elizabeth Carey, the regional AAA’s director of public relations, said the way that the holidays worked out this year on the calendar will also have an impact on travel plans.
“What we’re seeing is very unique this year with Christmas and New Year’s Day falling on Sundays, we’re seeing a lot of people looking to extend those holiday trips, and a lot of people working virtually some days to really extend things that way as well,” Carey said.
If you are traveling by car, one positive note is that gas prices went down again in the last week. The AAA said Rochester saw a drop of 7 cents a gallon to an average of $3.57 a gallon.
AAA spokesman Mark Gruba said the reason for the drop is mainly due to supply and demand.
“Demand continues to be lower. This is the time of year where fewer people are driving with less daylight. And the other thing is, the supply continues to rise,” Gruba said.
The airports will be busy as well. It’s projected that more than 7 million Americans are expected to fly this holiday period, up about 14% over last year.
