Record number of travelers expected this Thanksgiving holiday

AAA projects nearly 80 million travelers will head 50 miles or more from home over this Thanksgiving holiday travel period. This year’s projection is an increase of 1.7 million people compared to last year and 2 million more than in 2019.

Thanksgiving is the busiest holiday for travel, mostly done in the from of driving and flying as Americans reconnect with family and friends.

AAA projects 71.7 million people will travel by car over Thanksgiving – that’s up 1.3 million travelers on the road compared to last year. This year’s number also surpasses pre-pandemic numbers when 70.6 million people drove to their Thanksgiving destinations in 2019.

Thanksgiving air travel is also expected to set a new record with almost 6 million people flying domestically. That’s an increase of 2% compared to last year and a nearly 11% increase over 2019.

Experts say Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon will be the busiest travel times on area highways while Thursday will be the least travelled day.