By: Joshua Pineda
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark (UATV) – As we approach the holiday season, traveling expects to hit record numbers this year.
The American Automobile Association Newsroom predicts more than 53 million people to travel this year. This is the highest single-year increase in traveling since 2005.
However, inflation has caused prices to rise in a lot of areas including gas prices.
Katie Beth Haidet, a junior at the University of Arkansas said, ” I chose to drive home for Thanksgiving even though gas is crazy expensive. I would have preferred to fly but the airline tickets were really expensive. Driving allowed me to pack more clothes and take more things with me home.”
According to gasprices.aaa.com, Katie Beth is one of 48 million who are forcasted to drive during the Thanksgiving break. Gas Prices in the state of Arkansas average out to $3.03. The national average of cost for gas in the country is sitting at $3.40.
While Arkansas is nearly 40 cents behind the national average, one year ago gas in the state of Arkansas was $1.82.
According to AAA, airline prices aren’t cheap. Ticket prices have skyrocketed by 55% since last holiday season. This hasn’t stopped travlers from flying, as AAA predicts 4.3 million people to fly during the holiday season.
This is almost double the number of flyers from last year as 2.3 million flew to their destination.
Jackson Greer, a senior at the U of A said, “My family and I are taking a trip to another country and ticket prices were really expensive. We have made this trip a bunch of times and this is the most amount of money we had to pay for our airline fee.”
AAA reccomends travlers to work with a travel agent to help find deals and cheaper options for traveling this holiday season. With health restrictions and guidelines being lifted, many Americans are ready to travel.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, they reccommend people who are traveling to be fully vaccinated before you travel anywhere in the US or US territotes.
Anyone who has been exposed to COVID-19 in the past 90 days should not travel unless they are fully vaccinated. People are required to wear masks inside areas of public transportation such as: planes, trains, airports, buses, etc.
CDC said anyone who feels they might have been exposed to COVID-19 to self-isolate and to get tested. Those who are not vaccinated should get tested three to five days after returning from traveling. CDC also reccommends to stay at home for seven days even if you test negative from a Covid test.