WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Though most traveling Americans will give thanks this year to low gas prices, much of the expense of holiday travel goes to fuel costs, motor club AAA said.
AAA expects more than 46 million people will travel more than 50 miles from home this upcoming Thanksgiving, a 4.2 percent increase from last year and the highest level since 2007.
Of those, nearly 90 percent of those will drive and find something to be thankful for with low gasoline prices.
"Holiday joy has come early this year with Americans likely to pay the lowest Thanksgiving gas prices since 2009," AAA President and Chief Operating Officer Marshall Doney said in a statement Thursday. "Lower prices are increasing disposable income and enabling families to carve out more money from household budgets for travel this Thanksgiving."
AAA reports a Friday national average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline at $2.84, about 7 cents cheaper than one week ago and 38 cents less expensive than this date in 2013.
Low oil prices globally translate to low gasoline prices at the pump. Geopolitical tensions overseas are compensated for by high oil production, particularly in the United States. Despite the low price for gasoline, AAA said holiday travelers are expected to spend about 31 percent of their travel budget on fuel, compared with 22 percent for food and 20 percent on shopping.
In a separate survey published earlier this week, price watcher GasBuddy said low gasoline prices should translate to a collective saving of more than $160 million per day on holiday travel compared with what travelers spent last year on fuel costs.
