Thanksgiving air journey numbers trace at robust finish of yr development By Investing.com

By Liz Moyer

Investing.com — Thanksgiving weekend flight journey culminated within the largest variety of individuals passing via airport safety checkpoints for the reason that begin of the pandemic, welcome information to hospitality business firms and their buyers.

The Transportation Safety Administration screened 2,560,623 passengers on Sunday, capping off a busy vacation weekend, although the full variety of air vacationers was nonetheless under pre-pandemic highs.

About 24.6 million individuals went via TSA checkpoints from Nov. 18 to Nov. 28, a drop of practically 6% from the identical interval in 2019. And Sunday’s complete was 11% decrease than the Sunday after Thanksgiving three years in the past.

However the development units up expectations for the top of yr holidays as would-be vacationers scour the web for journey offers. Since 2017, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving has been referred to as Journey Tuesday, the place buyers can discover reductions for inns, flights and journey packages.

Shares of journey reserving websites are rising. Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:) was up 2.8%, whereas Reserving Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:) was up 1.6%. Journey.com Group Ltd ADR (NASDAQ:) was up 3.9%.

Each Expedia and Reserving.com shares have been below strain this yr, falling 43% and 16% yr to this point. Journey.com is up 18.9% this yr.

Journey pricing tracker Hopper stated costs proceed to rise. Whereas vacationers paid a median $350 a ticket for a home flight at Thanksgiving, and $189 an evening for a lodge room, the costs for Christmas break are greater: the common home flight is as much as $463 a ticket, and lodge rooms are going for a median of $218 an evening, the location stated.

Airfares are averaging 31% greater than in 2019, and 39% greater than final yr, Hopper stated.