Thanksgiving travel to remain steady despite economy, survey says

In the current economic climate, one might expect that more of the travel-inclined would be dressing our turkeys at home this year. However, according to a survey commissioned by Hotwire.com, traveling numbers will be relatively unchanged from Thanksgiving 2007.

Results of the survey, conducted online by market research firm Harris Interactive among more than 2,000 adults in the United States, show that 39% of us will be hitting the road (or skies or railways) this Thanksgiving. But we’re not venturing too far from home: Of those traveling, 74% plan to cover distances of 200 miles or less — a trend that is also similar to last year’s activity.

(Note: This Harris Interactive survey is a different survey than the one referred to in the Los Angeles Times article “Holiday Travel Expected to Remain Steady, Industry Report Says,” published last week.)

I don’t put all my money on expectations set by market-research studies, but this is interesting food for thought. The number of those traveling sounds about right, if I imagine my friends, families and neighbors as the sampling pool. And yes, most of the people I know are staying relatively close to home. In my experience, Thanksgiving doesn’t seem to be the biggest budget-biter; since it’s a four-day holiday, many of us tend to spend it with family who live closer rather than farther, and if we’re staying overnight with family, we can guess that it’s free.

Travel around December holidays — when many of us take more days off of work — might be a different story. Many will undoubtedly be downsizing their holiday gift lists, and I’m guessing that travel will decrease. I’ll keep a lookout for surveys and projections on that front, but in the meantime, I’m interested your plans …

Will you be traveling this year and, if so, have you reconsidered due to the economic downturn? Have you canceled Thanksgiving or later holiday plans this year? Let us hear from you in the Comments.

If you are considering holiday travel but haven’t booked anything yet, read “Travelers Enjoying Lower U.S. Domestic Airfares” for inspiration.

– Susan Derby, Special to the Los Angeles Times

[Photo: Diane Bigda / For the Los Angeles Times]

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 18, 2008 at 10:30 am by Susan Derby and is filed under News, Tips & Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.