U.S. travel during the Christmas and New Year’s holiday weekends will rise 3.8 percent from last year, the first gain in three years and the biggest increase for any holiday in 2009, AAA said Wednesday.
About 87.7 million travelers, or 28 percent of the population, will travel 50 miles or more away from home this year, AAA said. That is up from 84.5 million a year earlier.
In the Mountain region — Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana — there will be 7.3 million travelers, or 32.5 percent of the population, spending $830 per household, and 76 percent of them will journey more than 400 miles roundtrip.
“More Americans traveling during the winter holidays is another sign consumers are continuing to grow more confident in their personal financial situations,” said Glen MacDonell, AAA’s director of travel services. Bloomberg News; Denver Post file photo
