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Auto Club Projects Less Than 1 Percent Increase In Thanksgiving Travel This Year

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Lower-than-expected job and economic growth will keep more Southern Californians close to home for the Thanksgiving holiday this year.

Around the state, the number of holiday travelers is projected to be 5.7 million, an increase of only six-tenths of 1 percent from last year, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California.

The Auto Club attributed the lack of significant movement in the figures to lower-than-expected job and economic growth, but despite that, the number of local residents projected to travel at least 50 miles from home between Wednesday Nov. 25 and Sunday Nov. 29 is the highest for the Thanksgiving holiday since 2007, when 4 million Southern Californians took trips.

Las Vegas, San Francisco, San Diego, the Grand Canyon, and Santa Barbara and California's Central Coast are the top five destinations for Southern California's travelers.

Most of that travel will be by car, but a record 2.1 million passengers are expected to pass through Los Angeles International Airport over the 11-day Thanksgiving holiday travel period, a jump of 6.9 percent over last year's record of 1.96 million passengers, officials said.

Airport officials said they estimate 205,000 passengers to pass through the airport today, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, then jump to 219,000 on Monday. An estimated 197,000 travelers are expected at the airport Nov. 25, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving and the following Friday will be the slowest days, with 147,000 and 170,000 passengers, respectively.

(©2015 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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