AAA forecasts a strong rebound in holiday travelers this Thanksgiving. According to a press release, the Auto Club Group predicts 53.4 million Americans will travel for the Thanksgiving
holiday, up 13% from 2020. This brings travel volumes within 5% of pre-pandemic levels for the 2019 holiday.

The gap is closing even faster in Tennessee, as total travel figures are only 3% below pre-pandemic levels, according to officials. AAA predicts 1.2 million Tennesseans will travel for Thanksgiving, a nearly 12% rebound from the total number of travelers during the 2020 holiday.

AAA notes that the actual number of holiday travelers could fluctuate as we approach Thanksgiving, With 6.4 million more Americans traveling this Thanksgiving (130,000 more Tennesseans), people should prepare for the roads and airports to be noticeably more crowded than last year’s holiday.

AAA predicts road travel to increase 8%. Yet the most notable improvement this year’s holiday is domestic air travel, which has almost completely recovered from its dramatic drop-off during the
pandemic and is up 80% from last year.