FARGO -- Thanksgiving holiday travel is expected to be down compared with last year in the region that includes North Dakota and Minnesota, the automobile club AAA said last week.
Last year, travel during the holiday weekend dropped 25.2 percent nationwide in the wake of the housing and financial sector crises, but only 9 percent in AAA's West North Central Region, which includes the Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas, AAA spokesman Gene LaDoucer said.
This year, travel is expected to be down 2.6 percent in the region, as opposed to a 1.4 percent increase nationwide.
"This region was one of the last to kind of feel the effects of the recession," LaDoucer said. "And now we're still feeling it somewhat, whereas the rest of the country, they got hit harder, quicker, and their travel numbers were down sharply last year and ours were relatively stable in comparison."
Still, he noted 21.5 percent of the region's population is expected to travel 50 miles or more from home over the weekend, well above the national average of 12.6 percent.
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LaDoucer said the annual AAA forecast, based on research by IHS Global Insight, found 71 percent of this region's travelers will visit family and friends.
"That's something with the family values of this region, that falls right in line with that," he said.
Higher gas prices -- North Dakota's average Wednesday was up about 57 cents a gallon from the same time last year -- aren't expected to significantly affect travel, LaDoucer said. In fact, auto travel is expected to be up 2 percent over last year in the region, he said.
Air travel, on the other hand, is expected to be down 6.7 percent nationwide, as well as in the region, as airlines reduce capacity to keep costs down, LaDoucer said.
Mike Nowatzki is a reporter at The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead, which is owned by Forum Communications Co.
