Colorado can be thankful for a recovering economy, if this weekend’s travel numbers are an indicator.
For the second year in a row, this week’s bookings at Denver International Airport Thanksgiving week travelers topped 1 million, the two best Thanksgivings in the airport’s 16-year history.
Nationwide, about 42.5 million people will travel this holiday, the most since the economic crunch began in 2007, according to the motor club AAA.
AAA Colorado estimated 3.17 million travelers will cross in the Mountain States of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, Montana from Wednesday to Sunday, 4.1 percent more than in 2010.
Median family spending this Thanksgiving is expected to be $621.
Lodging in the mountain states are up 6 percent this year, according to AAA.
The travel club said Thanksgiving marks the region’s first significant increase in holiday travel this year.
“As consumers weigh the fear of economic uncertainty and the desire to create lasting family memories this holiday, more Americans are expected to choose family and friends over frugality,” Bill Sutherland, vice president of AAA Travel Services, said in a media release touting the hopeful numbers.
Travel on the highways is the mode of choice for 89 percent of that mountain states travelers.
The average price for a gallon of regular self-serve gas in Colorado today was $3.37, down from $3.51 a month ago. Last year, a gallon cost $2.70 in Colorado.
The Front Range has the lowest average prices, about $3.32 a gallon, while the Western Slope has higher prices, including $3.84 in Vail, according to AAA’s daily fuel price report.
AAA said about 210,000 mountain states travelers, about 6.6 percent, are flying, a 1.7 percent increase from 2010, while average ticket prices are 20 percent higher than last year.
Colorado’s ski industry, an economic driver for the state, is hoping for big things this year.
The Denver-based Mountain Travel Research Program said last week that as of Oct. 31, ski resort bookings in Colorado, Utah, California and Oregon were up 10.8 percent for November through April, while daily rates rose 3.5 percent.
Colorado Ski Country USA reported that last season the 22 resorts in its membership had a 2.6 percent increase in skiers, an estimated 6.9 million visits.
Nationwide, ski visits were up less than 1 percent last season, the trade group reported.
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com
