Winter holiday travel on the rise, car club says

Despite the cold weather and even colder economy, winter holiday travel is heating up throughout the Mountain West region. The latest survey from AAA Nevada finds the number of people in the region expected to travel over the upcoming holiday is up compared to 2009.

AAA Nevada's latest travel survey predicts more than seven million travelers in the Mountain West region will travel 50 miles or more over the Christmas and New Year's holiday. This represents an overall increase of 2.4 percent compared to 2009. The year-end holiday travel period is defined as Dec. 23-Jan. 2.

"The winter holidays are always a time for family and fun which tends to push people to travel perhaps more than other major holidays," said AAA Nevada spokesperson Michael Geeser. "Mountain West region residents are following the trends set over the past year. They're telling us they plan on traveling and they aren't going to let the economy stop them."

AAA's survey finds travel in the Mountain West region is up across the board. Travel by motor vehicle this holiday period shows an increase of 2.5 percent. Air travel is up 1.8 percent compared to last year. Over 6.5 million residents of the Mountain West will be traveling by automobile and 200,000 will take a plane to their destination. Approximately 429,000 are expected to travel by other modes of transportation, such as boats or trains. This is an increase of 1.7 percent compared to last year.

Nationally, AAA expects 92.3 million people will travel 50 miles or more from home this holiday period. That's a 3.1 percent increase from the number of travelers last year.

The average round-trip distance for those in the Mountain West who are traveling is 1,283 miles. This is the greatest average distance reported by any region in the country. The average number of miles for the nation's travelers is 1,052 miles. While Mountain West travelers will be going further than average than other travelers, they expect to spend the second least amount on their vacations. Mountain West travelers expect to spend an average of $711 on transportation, fuel, accommodations, food, shopping and entertainment. The average spending in the country for holiday travelers is $694.

According to AAA's Leisure Travel Index, hotel rates for AAA Three Diamond lodgings over the year-end holidays are expected to increase five percent from a year ago, with travelers spending an average of $125 per night compared to $119 last year. Travelers planning to stay at AAA Two Diamond hotels can expect to pay two percent more at an average cost of $88 per night. Airfares are expected to be three percent less than last year with an average lowest round-trip rate of $174 for the top 40 U.S. air routes. Weekend daily car rental rates will remain unchanged at an average of $50.