Nearly 5 million Ohioans to hit the road

VW independent staff/submitted information

AAA expects all modes of travel to be extremely busy from Saturday, December 21 through New Year’s Day, as they have been over most holiday weekends this year.

Nationally, AAA projects 119.3 million travelers will head 50 miles or more from home over the 10-day year-end holiday travel period. This year’s total number of travelers is a 2.8 percent increase over last year and sets a record surpassing 2019 pre-pandemic numbers at 119.2 by 65,000 travelers.

In Ohio, AAA predicts a sizable chunk of the state’s population, 4.9 million Ohioans, will travel over the 10-day year-end holiday travel period, a 2.9 percent increase over last year.

Road travel

Nationally most holiday travelers are going by car as AAA expects nearly 107 million people will drive to their holiday destinations, an increase of 2.8 percent compared to 2023. In Ohio, it is expected that 4.47 million Ohioans will drive – an increase of 2.5 percent over 2023. The previous record was 4.44 million set in 2019.

Airline travel

AAA projects 7.85 million air travelers across the country this holiday season, surpassing 2023’s record of 7.5 million passengers. In Ohio, that number is up also this year. More than 279,000 people will fly for the holiday, making it the busiest travel year since AAA began keeping track.

Other modes

The largest increase continues to be buses, cruises and rail across the country with 4.4 million projected to travel to their destination. In Ohio, more than 186,000 travelers are expected to travel by other modes this year. That is a 10 percent increase over last year but trails behind 2003 numbers by 64,500. That record was 250,616.