As Texas travelers prepare for their holiday trips, AAA and local airports are ready to embrace a busy travel period to close out the year.

Staying on the Road  

Approximately 9.4 million Texans are expected to travel during the year-end holiday travel period (Dec. 20 to Jan. 1), a 1.7% increase over last year, according to AAA Texas. Nearly 93% of that total, about 8.7 million travelers, are anticipated to take to the road in Texas.

Nationally, 122.4 million Americans will travel during the holidays, marking the busiest travel period on record.

“Year-end travel brings together everything from family road trips and friends’ getaways to tropical escapes,” said Galen Grillo, AAA Texas Vice President and General Manager. “Each household celebrates the season differently, but the common thread is a shared desire to travel—whether heading home or discovering someplace new.”

Houstonians staying on the road should expect to pay less for gas compared to last year. According to the AAA Gas Watch, the gas price average in the Houston area is currently $2.48 per gallon, which is .10 cents less than this time last year.

Taking it to the Skies 

When it comes to air travel, approximately 3.4 million passengers are expected to travel through George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) and Hobby Airport (HOU) over their designated holiday travel period (Dec. 18 – Jan. 5), marking one of the busiest travel seasons of the year.

According to a press release from Houston Airports, IAH could see nearly 2.6 million passengers, while HOU could see around 775,000 travelers.  

As the holiday travel period kicks off, three new nonstop routes by Frontier Airlines will begin to Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.