Top 5 places people are traveling to this holiday season
The American Automobile Association (AAA) has released their top five year-end travel destinations for 2018, and the list shows that most people are seeking to escape the cold.
No matter where you are going, AAA Traffic Safety and Advocacy spokesperson Tamra Johnson recommends drivers hitting the road not only check the weather at your final destination but also all along your route.
"It's going to be a record-breaker. We are anticipating that 112 million Americans will be traveling more than 50 miles away from home, and that is more than one-third of Americans and that's a four percent increase and the actual highest year in travel volume since AAA started tracking," Johnson said.
Johnson said not only will the roads be busy, but so will air traffic and other modes of travel like buses, trains and cruise ships.
"Typically, the strength of the economy is a strong indicator for where we will find travel throughout 2018. The economy has been strengthening. Consumer confidence is up; it hit an 18-year high around Thanksgiving. Also consumer spending and the strength of the labor market are all helping to contribute to this increase," Johnson said.
"If we just look at a lot of the top travel destinations for 2018, we see a lot of people are trying to escape to those warm weather destinations," Johnson said. She added that this tends to be the trend especially at the end of the year, so destinations like Dominican Republic and Jamaica are all in the top five as Americans look to escape cold weather.
Johnson said Orlando, Florida, typically tops the list. Orlando as well as Anaheim, California, tend to be popular destinations for families looking to get to amusement parks.
"But then also for end of year, we typically see that New York City tends to be a very popular destination for people that want to head to Times Square and see the ball drop, so that is also on the top 10 list," Johnson said.
According to AAA, most people tend to drive to their destination, and 2018 is proving that to be accurate.
"We are anticipating that 102 million Americans will be taking road trips; that's up about four percent from 2017. And then 6.7 million are going to be flying and about 3.7 are taking other modes of transportation," Johnson said.
A woman with a Mickey Mouse hat walks toward Sleeping Beauty's Castle at Disneyland, in Anaheim, Calif. Disney. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
AAA has seen cruise travel rise in 2018. Additionally, many Americans are excited to travel to the Caribbean, whether that be by cruise or by air, particularly since the Atlantic hurricane season wrapped up on Nov. 30.
