83 mn Americans to hit the road for holidays
December 23rd, 2011 - 1:14 pm ICT by IANSNew York, Dec 23 (IANS) Over 83 million Americans plan to drive this Christmas and New Year, up 2.1 percent from last year, the American Automobile Association (AAA) has predicted.
“Since the recession in 2008, we have actually seen a decrease in travelers and this year they are finally saying we have had enough of staying home,” AAA spokesperson Tara Hanley said Thursday.
“Even though times are still tight, we are going to travel, we are going to spend Christmas with our family and friends, so that is the kind of shift in attitude this year,” Xinhua quoted her as saying.
Meanwhile, Airlines for America, the US airline industry’s trade group, is forecasting about 43.3 million air travelers during the 21 days surrounding Christmas and New Year, a 1 percent drop from the same period last year.
It would be the smallest number of air travelers since the organization started collecting holiday sample data seven years ago.
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Tags: air travelers, airline industry, airlines, american automobile association, american automobile association aaa, attitude, christmas, family and friends, holidays, new year, new york dec, recession, seven years, spokesperson, staying home, tara, trade group, xinhua