Travel predictions bode well for roadside places
Low gasoline prices are widely expected to deliver a boon this holiday season to restaurants that depend on consumers traveling by car. Less clear is how fears stoked by recent terrorist attacks and warnings might divert some airline travel to the roads.
All factors considered, the American Automobile Association expects 300,000 more consumersto travel this Thanksgiving Season than left home in 2014, for a grand total of nearly 47 million people. That’s the highest level since 2007, the association says.
AAA has yet to forecast auto travel for December. Last year’s levels set an all-time record, and gas prices have dipped since then to an average of $2.07 a gallon, the group says.