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Holiday Travel Almost as Big as Last Year's
Another holiday travel season is nearly upon us, and it will be bigger than last year's.

That's according to Triple-A, which projects 4.5 million Illinoisans will travel more than 50 miles from home at some point during the Christmas-New Year's period, starting Wednesday and running through Jan. 3. That's an 11 percent increase from last year.

Beth Mosher of the Triple-A Chicago Motor Club, based in Aurora, says the big increase is because travel last year was down in Illinois, as the recession hit Illinois and the Midwest harder than it hit other parts of the country, at least in terms of employment. This year, people are feeling more secure about their economic position.

Mosher says the cost of travel -- gas, lodging, hotels, air fare -- is up a little this year.

Nationally, 87.7 million Americans are expected to travel, a 3.8 percent increase from the same period in 2008. The increase is the largest projected increase over 2008 for any of the major holidays this year.

The busiest travel days will be Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week, and Jan. 2-3, 2010.

(Illinois Radio Network)
12 22 09 by Newsroom
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