Record Setting Travel Period Underway – WHKY

AAA Carolinas was expecting record-setting travel numbers for Thanksgiving. More than 2.2 million North Carolinians were forecast to travel 50 miles or more for the holiday. That’s an all-time high for Thanksgiving and nearly 44,000 more travelers than last year.

National travel numbers are also expected to set new records with an estimated 79.9 million travelers. The 2% growth equates to 1.7 million more people than the previous record set last year, and two-million more than in 2019. Consumer spending is expected to increase by 4.6% compared to this time last year.

In effort to better capture the flow of holiday travelers, AAA expanded the number of days in the Thanksgiving holiday travel period. Instead of Wednesday through Sunday, this year’s Thanksgiving holiday travel period is seven days, stretching from Tuesday, November 26 to Monday, December 2.