A rising economic tide will lift all Thanksgiving travelers this year, as local and national reports expect more people to venture from home for the holiday.
Local officials expect a change in the local public-school schedule to increase travel through the week of Thanksgiving, as the Clark County School District will not hold classes from Nov. 21-25.
McCarran International Airport spokeswoman Christine Crews anticipates 1.2 million travelers will pass through the airport from Saturday, Nov. 19, through Monday, Nov. 28.
Incoming Thanksgiving visitors will contribute to an expected 7 percent jump in travel through McCarran from Wednesday through Sunday, Crews said. The peak travel day will be Sunday, Nov. 27, with approximately 140,000 passengers passing through. Only about 90,000 will travel on Thanksgiving Day, marking the low point of the period.
Crews advises that the most popular parking options at the airport — the Terminal 1 Long-Term Garage and Terminal 3 Economy Lot — likely will reach capacity during the week. The Terminal 1 Economy Lot also will be available, with the economy lots costing $10 per day and the long-term garage running $16 per day.
Checking whether your flight departs from Terminal 1 or Terminal 3 will be vital as well. While trams connect the two terminals, both parking and security likely will require more time than normal, and preparing in advance for your airport run will be important.
Air travel represents less than 8 percent of holiday travel nationwide, however. Roughly nine out of every 10 people will venture out by car, buoyed by gas prices reaching their lowest level in nearly a decade. A forecast by AAA predicts 48.7 million people will travel over the Thanksgiving weekend. If that happens, it will represent the highest number of travelers on the holiday since 2007.
“One million more Americans than last year will carve out time to visit with friends and family this Thanksgiving,” AAA President and CEO Marshall Doney said.
Those drivers will cause congestion in Southern Nevada’s most traveled interstate corridor. Information from the Regional Transportation Commission indicates drivers should expect traffic congestion on southbound Interstate 15 at Primm to cause delays of up to an hour and 40 minutes between noon and 6 p.m. Saturday, and between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. Sunday, with the most congestion between 1 and 3 p.m.
An estimated 318,000 visitors will be in Southern Nevada during the holiday weekend, with 60 percent traveling by car, according to the Nevada Department of Transportation.
The current national average of $2.16 per gallon sits 11 cents higher than that of Thanksgiving last year, but that still marks the second-lowest number since 2008, when the national average was $1.85. Price-tracking website Gasbuddy.com shows the Las Vegas average slightly higher at $2.44.
Las Vegas ranks atop AAA’s list of preferred Thanksgiving destinations in 2016, with San Francisco and San Diego placing second and third. Orlando and New York City round out the top five.