COLUMBUS – The travel volume this Thanksgiving holiday weekend will be the highest in 12 years, with over 2 million Ohioans joining the 51 million American who will travel by road, rail or air for the five-day period, according to estimates from the auto club AAA.
The AAA predicts the Thanksgiving travel numbers for the period Wednesday through Sunday will be the highest since 2005, a 3.3 percent increase nationally — 3.5 percent in Ohio — from last year.
A strong economy and labor market are generating rising incomes, enabling a confident consumer to spend money on travel, said Bill Sutherland, AAA senior vice president of Travel and Publishing.
Ohio typically sees a 62 percent increase in traffic volume during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, according to the Ohio Department of Transportation and the AAA predicts 1.78 million Ohioans – 61,000 more than last year – will travel by car.
Last year during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, the Ohio State Highway Patrol says nine people were killed in nine fatal crashes on Ohio’s roadways so troopers will have an increased presence.
Nearly 165,000 Ohioans will fly this holiday a 6.1 percent jump from last year, according to the AAA, the sixth consecutive year of air travel growth nationally thanks to travelers who are paying the lowest average airfare since 2013.