More Californians Than Ever Projected To Travel Over Holidays

A record number of Californians are expected to travel over the holidays. 

More than 12.4 million Californians are projected to travel between now and New Year’s, according to AAA’s latest survey. That’s up nearly two percent from last year.

And AAA’s Cynthia Harris says it’s more Californians than ever before.

"It is attributed to the confidence in the economy and the ability to pay bills back," says Harris.

And she says it’s also because gas prices are lower. 

"We also have to take into account that gas prices have been historically low in the last year-and-a-half," says Harris. "So that too attributes for more people traveling, and especially by car. We have an increase of almost two percent of people traveling by car."

But Harris points out, not everybody will be driving.

"We have just over a million people who are expected to fly and that’s a 4.8 percent increase from last year," says Harris. "Now that’s a major jump."

She says airfares for the top 40 domestic flight routes are six percent lower compared to a year ago, dropping to an average of $204 a round trip.

Nationally, AAA predicts more than 103 million people will travel, up 1.5 percent from a year ago.