COLUMBUS – Holiday travel is expected to make a big rebound this year despite worries about new variants of the coronavirus.
The auto club AAA projects the largest increase in year-end holiday travel on record with 4.4 million Ohioans joining the more than 109 million Americans who are expected to travel between Dec. 23 and Jan. 2.
The numbers are 33% higher in Ohio and 34% higher nationwide than last year, when COVID-19 fears and health precautions kept many people home.
“Americans who cancelled their vacations in 2020 want to gather for the holidays this year,” said Kimberly Schwind, senior public affairs manager for AAA Ohio Auto Club.
This year could see the fourth highest year-end holiday travel volume on record behind the years 2017 through 2019.
Despite gas prices that are at a seven-year high, Schwind says the road trip is still king.
“People still want to get out, they still want to travel and most of them are doing that by road,” she said
Four million Ohioans will drive to their destinations, as will more than 100 million Americans. While gas prices on Dec. 13 had dipped to just over $3 a gallon, they are still averaging about a dollar more per gallon than a year ago, according to the auto club.
The AAA and the transportation analytics company INRIX predicts only marginal delays overall but they say major metro areas could see more than double the delays during peak times. The experts recommend travelers drive in the late morning and early afternoon to avoid the worst delays.
Air travel is expected to nearly triple from 2020 year-end holiday levels and travel experts recommend passengers get to the airport two or three hours ahead of their scheduled flights.
The Transportation Security Administration has extended the face mask requirement in airports and on aircraft through March 18.
The air travel volume includes more than 200,000 Ohioans, many of whom will fly out of John Glenn Columbus International Airport.
There is a new secure identity verification option available at the airport, called CLEAR, which uses a scan of passengers’ eyes to verify their identity. Travelers who pay to use the subscription service will then be escorted to the physical screening process.
Many travel-related costs have increased since last year.
Mid-range hotel rates have increased 36% and car rental rates have increased 20%.