The Media's (Highly-Copied) Thanksgiving Travel Story

(MoneyWatch)  When Thanksgiving rolls around and sources go on vacation, journalists find that stories often dry up. Hence, we get a feature story on something that's timely, namely the AAA press release on holiday travel. The agency, which often regionalizes reports, is a godsend to reporters having to work the few days before Thanksgiving.

So, this year we got "Recession Keeps More Americans Home for the Holidays," "Cash-Strapped Consumers Embrace 'Home for the Holidays,'" or "Thanksgiving Day Travel Plans Get Ruined by Recession." Do you sense a theme here?

From Reuters:

More Americans will stay close to home during the holiday season because of financial woes instead of traveling to see family, marking the first decline in Thanksgiving travel since 2002, a motorist group said.

From the Arizona Republic:

Grandma may be a little lonelier this Thanksgiving.

Gas prices have plunged and hotel rates are down, but that may not be enough to encourage Arizona residents to travel during the holiday weekend.

From Bloomberg:

Beatriz Menanteau and 11 family members canceled plans to attend a Thanksgiving gathering in Kansas City, Missouri, this week. Two of them spent part of the past year unemployed, and one remains jobless.

"We just said this might not be the best year for this kind of big, family reunion trip," said Menanteau, a 32-year- old Minneapolis attorney.

The U.S. recession is curbing travel for the Nov. 27 Thanksgiving holiday, the start of a four-day weekend for many Americans.

From the Hartford Courant:

Gas prices may be falling, but with the recession gobbling up investments and jobs, a lot of penny-pinching consumers say they plan to celebrate at home this Thanksgiving.

Photo courtesy of Lawrence OP via Flickr