Holiday Travel Will Hit 5-Year High

      AAA South Dakota – AAA forecasts 91.9 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home over the upcoming Christmas / New Year’s holiday period, a 1.4 percent increase over year-ago figures. This year’s travel volume is the highest since 2006. AAA defines the travel season as Dec. 23 to Jan. 2.

      Today, the auto club released its annual year-end travel forecast, which revealed growth both state and nationwide, but only for auto travel, not air. Nationally, 83.6 million will be getting there by motor vehicle, a 2.1 percent boost over one year ago, and 5.4 million will fly, a dip of 9.7 percent.

      In South Dakota, overall travel is predicted to increase 0.8 percent over last year, with 260,015 South Dakotans traveling by motor vehicle over the holidays, a 1.2 percent jump compared to 2010 figures, and 8,211 flying, a 10.1 percent decline from last year.

For more on the this and other stories, pick up a copy of the December 21 issue.