Dennis RomeroY'all must be thankful for the jackpot you are about to receive, because Las Vegas is the number one destination for SoCal travelers this Thanksgiving.
So says the Automobile Club of Southern California, which this week revealed its list of “top destinations” for Southern California tourists over the holiday weekend (see it below).
The Auto Club also echoes previous reports on the topic: Traffic will be worse this year as a result of a recovering economy and lower gas prices, which have inspired people to get on the road for their turkey and other delights.
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The organization says 3.5 million local residents will hit the road, skies, seas and train tracks, a 3.8 percent increase compared to last year.
In fact, that's the highest number of projected Southern Californian travelers since the Great Recession started in 2007, the Auto Club says.
About 85 percent of those of you who are getting out of town are doing so via car, the organization says. That's slightly more than 3 million of us in cars between Wednesday and Sunday. Yay!
Auto Club spokesman Jeffrey Spring:
Credit: Moyan Brenn/Flickr
As Californians see improvements in jobs and household worth this year, they are more willing to spend on travel. An added bonus for travel budgets has been dramatically lower gas prices in the past two months. Consumers have more money in their pocket to plan trips, and this Thanksgiving’s travel will cost them less by car and just 1 percent higher than last year on average by air.
About one-third of SoCal travelers for the holiday weekend belong to the $50,000-to-$100,000 annual-household-income bracket, the Auto Club says. Forty-six percent belong to the sub-$50,000 club.
You'll be spending more on your Thanksgiving holiday travel this year—$700 versus $681 in 2013, says the organization. But you'll stay closer to home, traveling an average 434 miles versus 795 miles last year.
Wednesday and Sunday will be the biggest travel days, of course, says the Auto Club. And here are your top destinations, Southern California:
1) Las Vegas
2) San Francisco
3) San Diego
4) Grand Canyon
5) Santa Barbara and Central Coast
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