Record holiday travel expected to end a busy year
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More than 9.1 million Texans will travel 50 miles or more before the new year, per AAA.
Why it matters: A record 119 million Americans are projected to travel for Christmas and the New Year, narrowly surpassing the previous record set in pre-pandemic 2019.
State of play: More Texans are traveling this year than last year, but this holiday period's travel is still expected to be 4% lower than in 2019, per AAA.
- Most travelers will be hitting the road, but air travel in Texas is projected to increase 8% this year compared to last.
The intrigue: The number of Texans traveling by bus, train or cruise for the holiday is up 8.8% compared to last year and up 5.5% from 2019. Those are the only types of travel in Texas to surpass pre-pandemic levels.
- A projected 268,000 Texans — and more than 4 million Americans — will travel these ways for the holidays.
🚢 Fun fact: Domestic cruise bookings increased 37% compared to last holiday season.
Not-so-fun fact: Airfares have gone up. Flights are 4% more expensive compared to last year. The average cost of domestic roundtrip airfare is $830.
- Meanwhile, international travel costs increased even more. An average international roundtrip is $1,630 — 13% more expensive.
Zoom in: DFW Airport is expecting to see 4.7 million passengers pass through the airport through Jan. 7, a 2.4% increase over last year.
- At Dallas Love Field, the TSA is opening security lines at 3:30am until Jan. 4 to accommodate more holiday travelers, per NBC5.
Threat level: DFW Airport is adding officers to manage traffic during the holidays. Roadway construction also will be stopped during peak travel hours to avoid traffic jams.
- Cars were backed up for hours on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Airport officials said it was the highest number of vehicles ever reported in DFW's 50-year history.
⛽️ Gas prices have ticked up before the holidays, per AAA. The statewide average cost for a regular gallon of gas was up to $2.67 last week, higher than the week before and 7 cents more expensive than last year.
The bottom line: The national projections round off a year that set holiday travel records for Memorial Day, July Fourth and Thanksgiving.