Study Projects Holiday Travel to Increase in 2009

While Thanksgiving travel declined by 25 percent last year, a recent study published by the American Automobile Association predicts that the economy will not have a large effect on national travel over this year’s Thanksgiving holiday. The study estimated that about 33.2 million people will travel by car this Thanksgiving, an increase of about 2.1 percent from last year.

In accordance with the predicted national trend, Cornell students are planning their Turkey-day travels as usual. Candice Gant ’10, who works for Cornell Class Councils, an organization that schedules buses to and from the Syracuse airport for the Thanksgiving Break, stated in an e-mail that this year’s ticket sales “have been relatively the same as previous years.” Many students are also opting to take one of the charter buses run by Student Agencies to major east coast cities or to carpool with friends in order to reach their desired destination.

Meaghan McSorley ’13, said that she plans to drive to her aunt’s house in New Jersey for Thanksgiving. “I’ve been doing this since I was born,” McSorley said, adding that the economy did not play a part in her family’s holiday plans.

Andrew Santana ’13, who is also driving to visit family, echoed McSorley. “I’m going to stay with my relatives. … I’m looking forward to spending time with them and having a traditional holiday,” Santana said. “I don’t think the economy has changed my Thanksgiving plans at all.”

Derek Siker ’11, who is going to visit friends in Washington D.C. over the break, said that his travel plans have not been affected by the economy, but added “I think it mostly affects people who have longer distances to travel.”

This perception is in keeping with the AAA study which shows that air travel will go down by 6.7 percent from last year. However, airlines have been seeing a decline in numbers of holiday passengers for about a decade — well before the current economic worries began.

While some students are choosing to stay on campus for the break, the economy does not seem to play a major role in their decision. “I plan to stay here over Thanksgiving because all of my friends are staying,” Steven Wu ’12 said. “I don’t think the economy made much of a difference in whether I decided to stay or not.”

Wu’s sentiments were echoed by Ryan Dougherty grad, who lives in California. “My Thanksgiving plans are to have some people over — it wouldn’t be any different if the economy [were] different,” Dougherty said. “It would still be too expensive to go home.”

Lauren Schorr ’13, another California native, is also staying at Cornell for the break. “I guess to a small degree it’s the economy that affected my decision,” Schorr said, but added that her choice to stay at Cornell was mainly a function of the time it would take to get to and from her home state. “I couldn’t get to California feasibly on the most traveled day of the year,” Schorr said.