AAA says many Floridians will be making up for lost time this year after the pandemic forced them to cancel their year-end holiday trips last year. The auto club expects more than five-point-nine-million residents to travel 50 miles or more from home between December 23rd and January second. That's one-point-five-million more than last year, or a 35-percent increase.
"I think that last year a lot of folks were trying to play it safe- they wanted to stay at home," AAA's Mark Jenkins said. "Not the case this year with vaccines being more widely available. There's a lot more confidence out there. We're expecting a resurgence in travel for Christmas and for New Year's."
Overall AAA is anticipating 5.9 million Floridians to travel.
"The majority of those will be driving- about 5.4 million will be on the roads- and about 304,000 will fly."
Travel by car will be up by about 30-percent. Air travel by a huge 183-percent over last year.
Florida has four of the top 10 U.S. travel destinations for the holidays with Orlando taking the top spot. Miami is at 6th place, Fort Lauderdale at 7th and Tampa at 8th.
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