This Thanksgiving, an estimated 51 million Americans will travel via automobile, according to leading location data company Arrivalist. This volume is predicted to exceed 2019 road trips by 1.8 percent.
Arrivalist’s Daily Travel Index has been trending positively for the last four weeks, showing a five percent increase in road trip travel over 2019 and a seven percent increase compared to 2021 levels.
“Looming recession concerns and high airline ticket prices are driving travelers to hit the road this Thanksgiving,” said Arrivalist Founder and CEO Cree Lawson. “We expect this momentum to carry on throughout the 2022 holiday season. It will be exciting to see if 2022 road trip activity can beat the 2019 benchmark, as we have predicted.”
Lawson attributes the recent uptick in road trip travel to a combination of factors, including a desire to avoid flying during the pandemic and concerns about the economy.
“People are really looking to save money right now,” he said. “And when you compare the cost of flying to the cost of driving, it’s really no contest.”
According to AAA, the average cost of a round-trip flight for Thanksgiving travel is $478, while the average cost of a road trip is $50.
In addition, a recent study by the travel website Hipmunk found that one in four Americans is planning a road trip for Thanksgiving, with the majority planning to travel more than 500 miles.
So if you’re planning to hit the road this Thanksgiving, you’re certainly not alone. And with gas prices remaining low and hotels offering discounts, there’s never been a better time to hit the open road.
