Nashville expected to see decline in Thanksgiving travel

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    NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) — Nashville is expected to see a sharp decline in Thanksgiving travel this year.

In a report released by TripAdvisor on Monday, the 2020 Travel Index has Nashville ranked as the fourth least popular travel destination this holiday season.

The former “it city” has a recent spike in COVID-19 cases to thank for that. Also, many people are still not completely comfortable with hotel stays.

Instead, people are opting for places with more outdoor activities and private rentals where families can stay together without too much contact with others.

This year Florida tops the list with five cities making the top 10 most popular destinations for holiday travel. Key Largo is No. 1. Music City falls just behind New Orleans and New York City for the destinations people are generally avoiding compared to years past.

However, Nashville will still see an increase in visitors, especially compared to this summer. Most people will be traveling by car rather than by plane.

In a AAA study conducted last month, 50 million people said they will be traveling for Thanksgiving across the country. Here in Tennessee, there will be about 1.2 million people on the roads, a 10% decline from last year.

“Of course, given the environment with the recent increase in COVID-19 cases as well as some new travel restrictions across the country, it’s very likely that those numbers will be less when it comes to actual travel,” said Megan Cooper, a spokesperson for AAA.

If you are traveling, AAA said one thing you can look forward to is cheaper gas. Gas prices are down 44 cents compared to this time last year.

“Crude oil is relatively cheap right now, and throughout the summer we’ve seen some very low demand,” said Cooper. “So low crude oil pricing mixed with low demand means extra savings at the gas pump for those that are traveling.”

With low demand anticipated for the foreseeable future, experts expect gas prices to stay low for a while.

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