COLUMBUS – Ohioans are traveling — and spending — at near-record levels as the 2023 holiday season begins.
The auto club AAA estimates more than 2.2 million Ohioans, including almost 400,000 from central Ohio, will be among more than 55 million Americans traveling at least 50 miles from home for the Thanksgiving period from Wednesday through Sunday. That is 2.3% more than the previous year and the third-highest Thanksgiving travel volume in Ohio since AAA began tracking in 2000.
Of those traveling, more than 1.9 million Ohioans will travel by car and nearly 232,000 by plane.
Motorists will find gas prices lower than last year with Ohio’s average price of $3.10 per gallon 48 cents lower than 2022 and 20 cents below the national average.
Average gas prices in Ohio and surrounding states
Ohio…………………………..$3.10
Pennsylvania………………$3.59
Michigan…………………….$3.24
W. Virginia…………………..$3.22
Indiana……………………….$3.22
Kentucky…………………….$3.04
Source: AAA (11/21/23)
The auto club is predicting major delays throughout the week on highways, peaking Wednesday afternoon with trips taking as much four times longer in major metropolitan areas. AAA experts say the worst time to be on the road will be between 2:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. Wednesday as commuters mix with travelers.
The Ohio Department of Transportation predicts the heaviest volume in Columbus will be between noon and 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, from noon to 4:00 p.m. on and 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. on Sunday.
The auto club predicts 40,000 people will fly from central Ohio airports to their holiday destinations. The Transportation Security Administration expects to screen 2.6 million passengers on Tuesday and 2.7 million passengers on Wednesday. Sunday will draw the largest crowds with an estimated 2.9 million passengers,
Columbus paces holiday spending
The Thanksgiving dishes will still be drying when Ohioans limber up their credit cards.
The Ohio Council of Retail Merchants and University of Cincinnati Economics Center is forecasting the 11th straight year of increased holiday retail sales this year with expected total sales of $32.2 billion, a 0.7% increase over last year’s sales of $31.4 billion.
Spending in central Ohio is expected to increase more than 5% to over $7 million (see graphic). Columbus area shoppers account for nearly one-fourth of the holiday retail spending in the state.
Inflation in the Midwest slowed to from 8.1% between September of 2021 to September of 2022 to 3.2 percent between last September and this September 2023, according to Brad Evans, director of research for the University of Cincinnati Economics Center.