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More Americans Staying Close to Home for Thanksgiving
Fewer people are hitting the roads or taking to the sky for Thanksgiving.

That's despite gas prices that have fallen dramatically over the past few months and air fare deals to entice people to fly to their holiday destination. The AAA Chicago Motor Club anticipates the first decline in Thanksgiving travel since 2002, and the overall state of the economy is bearing the brunt of the blame.

Figures from AAA show around 41-million Americans are traveling 50 miles or more from home over Thanksgiving, or 600,000 fewer travelers than last year at this time. Motor club spokeswoman Beth Mosher says nationwide, a little over 4.5 million people are flying, a 7.2 percent decrease compared to last year.

"That's probably because not only are people probably paying higher air fares, but then they're also paying extra fees on top of it, such as checked baggage fees and that type of thing that really add up for consumers."

Mosher says 81 percent of the holiday travelers are driving this year, down 1.2 percent from last year. Triple-A also notes that more than 1.5 million people in Illinois are traveling for the holiday, and of those, 1.16 million are driving and 259,500 are flying.

Mosher also says travel by bus, train and other means is up nearly 6 percent over last year.
11 26 08 by Newsroom
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