Overall holiday travel numbers expected to be down

COLORADO HOLIDAY GUIDE
DENVER - If you are getting ready to leave home for the Thanksgiving holiday, you will have less company if you are flying and more if you are taking to the road.
- Gas prices fall to begin busy travel week

AAA says the number of drivers traveling this week will be up 1.4 percent from last year. However, the number of fliers is projected to drop 6.7 percent, according to AAA.

Despite the small increase in drivers this year, the numbers are still way down. That is because Thanksgiving travel dropped more than 25 percent nationwide last year.

In the mountain states this year, AAA expects to see 2.5 million drivers. That is an increase of .3 percent from last year.
Those same eight states, (CO, UT, WY, NM, AZ, NV, ID, MT) are expected to have a huge drop in airline passengers.

In mountain states, 8.3 percent fewer people are taking a flight this Thanksgiving.

"Airfares are down slightly, but it's a hassle to fly anymore," Wave Dreher with AAA Colorado said. "People are seeing fewer flights to where they want to go. They're seeing a lot higher fees, and this year we're also seeing holiday surcharges."

AAA says 84 percent of the vacationers who come to the mountain states will drive. Only 8 percent will fly, and the remaining vacationers will come by other modes of transportation.