How many people will travel for Thanksgiving this year? Which travel days are the busiest, and which are less hectic? How do current trends compare to pre-pandemic patterns?
As Thanksgiving quickly approaches, these are some of the questions that come to mind. Data trends offer powerful insights that help visualize patterns, answer pressing questions, and guide decisions. With the right analysis, we can go beyond averages and pinpoint what's driving key Thanksgiving travel trends—from how many people will hit the road or fly to which days are best for avoiding crowds.
Our first question was how many people would travel by car or plane for Thanksgiving 2024. Using data from the past five years (2019-2023), we applied a time-series trend analysis in Minitab Statistical Software to forecast holiday travel:
Minitab’s projection indicates that approximately 55 million people will travel in the United States this Thanksgiving. We then ran an outlier test to see if the 2020 traveler count, impacted by the pandemic, was statistically unusual:
The analysis confirmed that 2020 was indeed an outlier. When we removed it to focus on post-pandemic travel trends, the projection rose to 56 million, reflecting the steady return to pre-pandemic travel levels.
Additionally, we found that the Wednesday before Thanksgiving was the heaviest travel day recently, so if you are looking for more open roads and less busy airports, consider traveling on Tuesday or Thursday morning instead.
Understanding Thanksgiving travel trends through data analysis helps uncover valuable insights that can guide your travel plans—and even help you avoid unnecessary headaches. With tools like Minitab Statistical Software, you can quickly analyze data to uncover patterns, validate trends, and make informed decisions, whether for personal plans or business forecasting.
Start your journey into data analysis today. Try Minitab for free and see how easy it is to uncover insights that matter.