AUSTIN (KXAN) — As a record number of Americans travel for the holiday season this December, 9.1 million Texans are also expected to take to the roads or the skies.
That figure is based on projections from AAA Texas, analyzing how many Texans will travel 50 miles or more from home between Dec. 21 and Jan. 1. In Texas, 2.2% more residents will be traveling for the holidays compared to last year, but the overall number is still 3.9% lower than the 2019 holiday season (the last before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.)
Those 9.1 million travelers are broken down into an estimated 8.5 million Texans traveling by car, 413,000 residents by air and 268,000 by some other form of transit. Airfare and alternative forms of travel are seeing the highest spike this season, up 8% and 8.8% compared to December 2023 metrics, respectively.
In the U.S., AAA is projected 119.33 million Americans will travel for the holiday season, just shyly clipping the record set by U.S. travelers in 2019.
Similar to Texans, the vast majority of Americans — 107 million — will drive to their holiday destinations, while 7.85 million will fly and 4.47 million will take some other form of transit.
“This is the time of year when lifelong memories are made with loved ones, and travel plays a big role in that,” AAA Texas Vice President Galen Grillo said in the release. “This year, with Christmas Day falling on a Wednesday, we will see many families not only take road trips but also fly to international destinations and set sail for warm destinations in the Caribbean.”
AAA also reviewed its booking dates between Dec. 21 and Jan. 1 to find the most popular domestic and international travel destinations for customers.
The Top 10 domestic locations are:
- Orlando, Florida
- Fort Lauderdale, Florida
- Miami, Florida
- Anaheim/Los Angeles, California
- Tampa, Florida
- Las Vegas, Nevada
- Honolulu, Hawaii
- Charleston, South Carolina
- New Orleans, Louisiana
- New York, New York
Looking at international and Caribbean sites, the most popular destinations include:
- Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
- Mexicali, Mexico
- Cancun, Mexico
- Bahrain, Bahrain
- Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
- San Jose, Costa Rica
- San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Nassau, Bahamas
- Oranjestad, Aruba
- London, England
AAA Texas’ full analysis and tips and tricks for holiday travel are available online.
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