Many Stayed Home for Thanksgiving

To prevent the spread of COVID-19 over the Thanksgiving holiday, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommended staying at home instead of traveling to celebrate with loved ones. According to Misbar’s analysis, many potential travelers did cancel their travel plans. 

Regarding air travel, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) reported less than half the volume of air travel in 2020 compared to a year ago Thanksgiving weekend. Approximately 4.5 million people flew for the holiday weekend from the 25th to the 30th of November, compared to more than 11.5 million who flew last year. 

In terms of car travel, those numbers were also down. According to the Associated Press, more people tend to drive than fly over Thanksgiving but even car travel was expected to see a drop-off. While road travel numbers for the week have yet to be released, the American Automobile Association (AAA) expected up to 50 million Americans to travel for Thanksgiving, a drop from 55 million in 2019. Travel by car was projected to fall about 4.3 percent this year and according to Foxbusiness.com, that figure marks the most dramatic one-year drop since the Great Recession in 2008.

While more people traveled to see friends and family over the Thanksgiving holiday compared to travel in the earlier days of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was not a busy Thanksgiving travel period, with many Americans canceling their travel plans.