More Georgians Traveling This Year Than Ever Before

AAA projects a record-setting 3.6 million Georgians will travel 50 miles between December 23 and January 1 for the Christmas/New Year holidays.

They say that’s a little over 99,000 (2.8%) more Georgia travelers than last year.

AAA spokeswoman Montrae Waiters tells WLHR News they expect gas prices will continue a downward trend.

Waiter said with pump prices falling slowly each day, it is likely that the national average will slide below $3 per gallon by the end of the year.

AAA also predicted several days of potentially bad traffic during the 10-day holiday period.

This Saturday, December 23, and Thursday, December 28, will be the most congested days on the road.

According to AAA partner INRIX Saturday, December 30, will see an increase in traffic compared to a normal Saturday because many people will be heading back home from their holiday destinations or traveling for New Year’s Eve.

So the best times to travel on the 30th AAA says will be before lunchtime or after 7 p.m.

If you’re planning to fly to your holiday destination, AAA expects airports to be the busiest they’ve ever been throughout the Christmas and New Year’s travel period.

They project that nearly 193,890 Georgians will take a commercial flight, which is 6,950 more than last year.

Nationally, they project 7.5 million air travelers this holiday, which is 200,000 more than the previous record set in 2019.

Additionally, the number of people traveling by other modes, like bus, train, and cruise, is projected to surpass 2019.

AAA expects more than 4 million Americans will take alternative transportation over Christmas and New Year’s compared to 3.66 million in 2022 and 3.89 million in 2019.

Demand for cruises has also skyrocketed post-pandemic, and the industry is now preparing for the wave of bookings that traditionally happens at the start of the new year.