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CNN Live Sunday

AAA Predicts Travel to Be Down Over Thanksgiving

Aired November 11, 2001 - 18:20   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: If you've changed your holiday travel plans out of some concern over terrorism, you're apparently in plenty of company. AAA is predicting that travel will be down 6 percent over this year's holiday Thanksgiving period, with many Americans deciding not to fly. 87 percent of those traveling over 50 miles will go by car. And AAA says that the September 11 attacks have created the worst crisis in leisure travel since World War II.

Mantil Williams directs public affairs at AAA's national office in Washington. And he's with us this afternoon to help clarify some of these numbers. And they don't look good, do they, Mr. Williams?

MANTIL WILLIAMS, AAA: Good evening, Catherine. Well, actually, they don't look good but we were expecting somewhat of a downturn in Thanksgiving travel. But we were happy to see that only car travel will actually only be down less than two percent. So that we think that the car travel could be the catalyst to bring people back to travel.

Right now, we think conditions are in place to see a comeback in travel mainly for three reasons. Number one, we are going into the heaviest travel season on Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year's. And number two, there are definitely a lot of travel bargains out there. And gas prices are the lowest they've been since 1999.

CALLAWAY: Yes, that is a good thing, gas prices being extremely low, some of the lowest they've been in some time. So a lot of people traveling by car. That's some good news, right?

WILLIAMS: Absolutely. Gas prices right now nationally are about $1.22 for self-serve regular unleaded. And that's about 30 cents cheaper than they were this time last year. And although this seems like ancient history, we reached a record high this in mid-May at $1.72. So they're actually 50 cents cheaper than they were this time since mid-May.

Now, we're also finding gas prices actually under a dollar. For instance in Albany, Georgia, we are finding gas prices like 93 cents a gallon.

CALLAWAY: Can't beat that. Something else we found interesting in your survey were who's going to be traveling of those that plan to travel. And it looks like people in the Southeast are the most likely to jump in the car and head out. Can you go over these numbers for us?

It's interesting, compared to the Northeast which is 2.5 million and the Southeast at 8.7 million. Is this something you normally see, you know, during the Thanksgiving holiday? Or are these new numbers for you?

WILLIAMS: No, this is pretty consistent what we've seen in past. The southeast, because the better weather that you're having, it's better weather for driving conditions in general, they tend to travel a little bit more, particularly travel a little bit more by car. The Northeast does travel, but because going by plane, train or bus down by 27 percent, and much of that is due to the fact that the air travel is down, that's probably why you're seeing those numbers that way.

CALLAWAY: Maybe things will change. Thanksgiving's a little while away. You never know, right, Mantil?

WILLIAMS: That's right.

CALLAWAY: All right, Mantil Williams, who is the public affairs director of AAA's national office in Washington. Thanks for joining us.

WILLIAMS: Thank you.

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