Reduced consumer confidence and higher travel prices are curtailing vacations nationally this week, but they don’t appear to be putting a crimp in Coloradans’ Thanksgiving plans.
Twenty-one percent more Colorado residents booked international trips over the long weekend compared with last year, with Mexico and Italy topping the list of destinations, according to data compiled Tuesday by AAA Colorado.
Twenty-three percent more Coloradans planned domestic trips this week, with Denver their top-ranked destination, followed by Las Vegas, Orlando, Fla., Dallas and Los Angeles.
“These numbers took us by surprise,” said Sandra Barnes, director of travel for the auto club, which tracks vacations booked by its 487,000 Colorado members. “We are definitely ahead of the national trend.”
Nationally, AAA estimates that 37.29 million people will travel 50 miles or more from home over the weekend, a 0.8 percent increase over 2004. Air travel is projected to be up 1.3 percent, to 4.64 million people.
Denver International Airport officials are predicting the busiest week ever, with 924,501 passengers, up 2.7 percent over last year. Sunday is expected to be the most hectic day, with 158,023 passengers.
Roughly 45 percent of all DIA travelers are passing through on their way to other destinations.
Vacationers should prepare for some steeper prices. The average cost of regular gasoline in Colorado was $2.30 a gallon on Tuesday, according to AAA, up 35 cents from last year but down 77 cents from the all-time high hit in September. Holiday hotel rates are up 1.5 percent and rental-car rates are up 3.2 percent, while airfares declined 4.8 percent on average.
Colorado mountain resort towns are hoping that recent snowstorms will entice Front Range skiers and snowboarders to head for the high country.
“The skiing is killer for this time of year, which always helps,” said Rob Levine, general manager of the Antlers at Vail.
The hotel is at roughly 70 percent occupancy for the weekend, about even with its 2004 Thanksgiving bookings.
Last year, 159,447 cars passed through the Eisenhower Tunnel on Interstate 70 over the five-day weekend, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation. That number was down by more than 17,000 vehicles compared with 2003, partly due to a Thanksgiving Day rockslide east of Glenwood Springs that snarled traffic. More than 176,000 cars are expected to pass through this year, said CDOT spokeswoman Stacy Stegman.
Staff writer Julie Dunn can be reached at 303-820-1592 or at jdunn@denverpost.com.
