NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- The number of Americans traveling 50 miles or more over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend is expected to decline this year for the first time since 2002, according to AAA.
The auto club said about 41 million Americans are expected to travel for the holiday, celebrated on Nov. 27 this year, a drop of 600,000 travelers, or 1.4% from a year earlier.
AAA said Thanksgiving marks the fourth consecutive major holiday weekend this year showing a year-on-year decline in the number of travelers.
The decline comes as economic weakness is being slightly offset by a steep drop in gasoline prices.
The national average price for self-service regular gasoline is $2.07 a gallon, AAA said, down 88 cents from a month ago and $1.03/gallon below a year ago. About one-third of U.S. states show averages below $2/gallon.
AAA said 81% of holiday travelers, or more than 33.2 million people, are expected to travel by automobile, down 1.2% from a year ago.
About 11% of travelers, or 4.54 million people, plan to travel by airplane, a 7.2% drop from 4.89 million travelers who flew last Thanksgiving.
About 3.26 million people, or 8% of travelers, intend to use rail, bus and other modes of transportation, up 5.8%, or 180,000 people, compared with a year ago, AAA said.
According to AAA's Leisure Travel Index (LTI), which is based on available rates this holiday, Thanksgiving holiday travelers can expect to pay more for air fares and car rentals this year.
Air fares are expected to be 8% higher than last year, while on average, car rental prices are 4% higher than a year ago for the same period. Hotel rates for facilities in AAA's three-diamonds rating bracket are down an average of 10% compared to last year, AAA said.
The greatest number of automobile travelers this Thanksgiving holiday will originate in the Southeast with 8.8 million, followed by the West with 6.9 million; the Midwest, 6.5 million; Great Lakes, 6.1 million; and the Northeast, 4.8 million.
The Southeast is expected to produce the largest number of air travelers with 1.176 million, followed by the West with 1.172 million; the Northeast, 882,000; the Midwest, 731,000; and Great Lakes, 575,000, AAA said.
-By David Bird, Dow Jones Newswires, 1-201-938-4423, david.bird@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 18, 2008 16:18 ET (21:18 GMT)

Publié le 18 novembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones