Utahns hit roads, runways

Larry West and his wife have an appetite for "Our Town," "Billy Elliot," "In the Heights" and "God of Carnage" more than turkey, stuffing, green-bean casserole and mashed potatoes.

"We are theater geeks," explains West, a Salt Lake City resident.

This Thanksgiving, the couple is hopping a plane to New York City to digest as many plays as they can.

"That's kind of what we do," he said. "We travel on a budget. It's not about food, and it's not about doing much other than theater and walking and seeing friends."

West and his wife are among 2.5 million residents in the Mountain West planning to travel 50 or more miles over the holiday weekend, according to a AAA report.

That's a slight increase — 0.3 percent — compared with last year for the region.

"The projected increase in travel appears to reflect improved consumer confidence from last year," said AAA Utah spokeswoman Rolayne Fairclough.

There are some signs the economy may be improving.

After four consecutive quarters of negative growth, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this week that Gross Domestic Product grew in the third quarter of this year by 2.8 percent — pushed up by massive government stimulus programs.

"However, high unemployment figures and less money in consumers' wallets will most likely keep people home who in the past may have been more likely to travel," Fairclough said.

For West, who has relatives out of state and frequently travels for Thanksgiving, the decision to go to New York this weekend had more to do with timing than the economy. He's starting a new job in December and expects to be busy. He did, however, score cheap airline tickets and hotel rates.

"I kind of made the decision to go and looked to see if it was feasible to go," West said. "We're staying in a Holiday Inn in Long Island, which is fairly inexpensive. We're actually flying on Thanksgiving. It's just budgeting."

About 200,000 residents of the Mountain West — defined by AAA as Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana — will fly this weekend, a decrease of 8 percent from last year.

Although airfares have decreased by 4 percent from a year ago, airlines have added surcharges and fees. They also are flying routes on smaller planes, contributing to the decline in air travel.

The average flyer will pay $107 per round trip, Fairclough said.

The 2.1 million Mountain West residents who will drive over the weekend will log an average of 661 miles on their vehicles, she said.

Jasmine Watkins of Ogden is heading to the mountains to stay in her family's Park City condominium, where she plans to relax, shop, swim and celebrate the holiday.

"We are cooking everything down here and taking it up there," Watkins said.

e-mail: lhancock@desnews.com

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