AAA Study Finds More Washingtonians Preparing To Travel Again

SEATTLE — For many, the holiday season is the premiere time to travel: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa are all great reasons for family reunions.

But that wasn't really the case last year, as Washington entered the third (and at the time, largest) wave of COVID-19 infections and government officials pleaded with Washingtonians to stay home, and stay safe. While we're not out of the woods with COVID yet, holiday travel has started to rebound.

According to AAA, in the first week of October, their agents had 75 percent as many bookings as they had during the same week in 2019. The agency says that's a significant improvement over last year.

Cruise bookings in particular have improved, hitting 98 percent of 2019 levels. Same with hotel bookings, which are just 3 percent shy of the pre-pandemic normal.

One thing that hasn't quite bounced back: rental cars. Rental car prices always drop when the summer ends — this year, they dropped from $222/day the week of September 19th to $86/day currently, AAA said — but their current prices reflect recent supply shortages, costing $30 more than the same period in 2019.

"Rental car companies must replenish fleets pared down during the pandemic but few vehicles are available," AAA wrote. "Production of the computer chips needed in new cars stopped when factories shut down due to COVID-19."

Related: Washington Travel Trends: AAA Sees 193% Surge In Trips Booked