APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Local airports are expecting a bump in holiday traffic, although it’s not expected to be quite as much as in years past.
Henry Tekampe is a traveler from Florida. He said, “about to see my new granddaughter, my two boys live in the upper peninsula, so we’re looking forward to spend some quality time with the holidays.”
However, while plenty of passengers are still getting tickets and grabbing their bags, overall travel is down compared to last year according to Appleton’s Airport Director Abe Weber.
“We expect about 1,000 people each day passing through the airport leading up to Christmas holiday and that’s about 50% what we would have seen in 2019,” said Weber.
But, the holidays have still given airports a reason to remind everyone to wear a mask, physically distance, and sanitize.
“We saw an increase in travel through the Thanksgiving holiday, but still an increase that we’ve seen in 2020,” said Weber.
And, even though crowds at the ticket counter may be smaller, Weber said, “you shouldn’t expect to have to see long lines or large crowds, you can be confident your safety is utmost of importance.”
Weber wants to remind passengers it’s important to keep up with flight information.
“Look on the airplane website and that should keep them up to date with status.”
When you’re heading out of the airport to a hotel, you can expect things to look different there as well.
Rani Patel is the owner of the the brand new My Place Hotel in Ashwaubenon and knows her numbers will be down as well.
“Every hotel, 80% of occupancy is down because people are not traveling,” said Patel, “corporate is not having their employees come out to work so its 20% occupancy.”
But both Patel, and Weber hope to see travel and occupancy numbers increase in 2021.
Nationally, AAA estimates around 85 million people will be travelling this holiday season.
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