It now seems that AAA is now saying that more people will be traveling this year for Thanksgiving. They went on to report that 38.4 million Americans will be traveling at least 50 miles or more away from home over the holiday weekend. This is a 1.4 percent increase over last year’s numbers.

The states that are located in the Pacific region, like California, Alaska, Hawaii, and Washington, are expected to see 4.6 million travelers hit the road for Thanksgiving. This is an increase of about 8.3 percent for this region when compared to last year. The regional growth rates range from as low as 0.3 percent all the way up to over 8 percent.

The AAA Oregon/Idaho public affairs director, Marie Dodds, said that although many Americans are very concerned about the economy and face many financial challenges at the moment, many are still planning on traveling this year for Thanksgiving. This travel is another sign that the economy could be stabilizing a bit. Although it is stabilizing it is still a long ways off from full recovery.

Over the course of this decade, the number of people traveling over Thanksgiving has ranged from 58.6 million to as low as 37.8 million. Thus, these numbers can be used to get an idea of where the travel market stands this holiday season. Although it is not as low as it could be, it is still a long ways off from where it has been in the past.

Just last year, Thanksgiving travel was actually down about 25.2 percent in the wake of the economic collapse and the ongoing housing and financial crisis. This year more people will be traveling than last year, but the airline industry may not notice. That is because most people admitted that they will be traveling by car this year.