New data from AAA projects that during this holiday season an increased number of U.S. travelers will spend more at hotels.
Year-end holiday hotel rates for AAA Three Diamond lodgings are expected to increase 2% from a year ago, with travelers spending an average of $129 per night compared to $126 last year. Travelers planning to stay at AAA Two Diamond hotels can expect to pay 3% more, at an average cost of $95 per night.
AAA projects 93.3 million Americans will journey 50 miles (80 km) or more from home during the year-end holidays, an increase of 1.6% over the 91.8 million people who traveled last year. This increase brings holiday travel figures to within half a million of the decade high mark seen during the 2006/2007 season. The year-end holiday travel period is defined as Saturday, December 22 to Tuesday, January 1, 2013.
Other projections include:
- 90% of travelers (84.4 million) to travel by automobile, representing 26.7% of the total U.S. population
- Holiday air travel expected to increase 4.5% to 5.6 million travelers from 5.4 million in 2011
- Median spending expected to increase almost 6% to US$759, compared to US$718 in 2011 with transportation costs consuming about US$0.29 of every travel dollar
- Average distance traveled to increase to 760 miles round-trip from 726 miles (1,223 km), an expected result with an increase in air travelers
- Travel volumes for the year-end holidays are generally very stable, only once in the past decade has there been a change in travel volume greater than 5%