American motorists will pay the highest gasoline price in four years during this year's Thanksgiving weekend, according to data compiled by Anadolu Agency on Thursday.
Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November each year as a federal holiday while the Thanksgiving holiday period is defined as from Wednesday to Sunday.
During this year's Thanksgiving weekend, which runs for five days from Wednesday through Sunday, around 54.3 million Americans are estimated to travel 50 miles (80.5 kilometers) or more away from their homes - a 4.8 percent increase from 2017, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA).
The average retail gasoline price in the U.S. for the week ending Nov. 19, the Monday before the holiday weekend, was $2.61 per gallon ($3.78 per liter), according to the U.S.' Energy Information Administration (EIA).
This level was $2.57 per gallon for the same period in 2017, and $2.15 per gallon during the same time in 2016, both of which were 1.5 percent and 17.6 percent lower, respectively, according to the EIA data.
The last time that the retail gasoline price was higher before the Thanksgiving weekend in the U.S. was last seen during the week ending Nov. 17, 2014 when the average price was $2.89 per gallon, the data showed.
- Around $3 billion to be spent on road trips
The average American is estimated to spend $67.59 on travel for Thanksgiving this year, according to LendEDU, a New Jersey-based online marketplace company for financial products.
While LendEDU expects more than 41 million Americans will travel by car during the Thanksgiving holiday, the AAA projects that 48.5 million Americans are planning a road trip over this year's Thanksgiving holiday.
This brings the total road trip cost for Americans during the holiday weekend to between $2.77 billion and $3.28 billion.
-164 million expected to shop
The Thanksgiving weekend starts on Thursday, and is followed by Black Friday when retailers offer huge discounts on various products. This period later extends to Cyber Monday when discounts are available for online consumers.
In the span of those five days, 164 million people in the U.S. are expected to shop, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF).
While 34 million people are expected to shop on Thanksgiving Day, 75 million are anticipated to look for bargains online, according to the NRF.
Black Friday will again be the busiest day of the Thanksgiving weekend with 116 million planning to shop.
During the five-day period, online sales are estimated to total $23.4 billion, according to Adobe Digital Insights (ADI) data.
On Cyber Monday alone, online sales are anticipated to reach $7.7 billion this year.
-45 million turkeys
Around 45 million turkeys will be eaten on Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. this year, according to personal finance website WalletHub based in Washington, D.C.
The cost of Thanksgiving dinner is down for the third consecutive year, American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) said.
“Since 2015, the average cost of Thanksgiving dinner has declined steadily and is now at the lowest level since 2010,” AFBF Chief Economist Dr. John Newton said in a statement.
The average cost of a Thanksgiving Day dinner table for 10 people this year is at $48.90, according to the AFBF. While this is less than $5 per person, it is also a $0.22 decrease from last year’s average of $49.12.
The cost of a turkey is also slightly less than last year. A 16-pound (7.25 kilogram) turkey will come in at $21.71 this year, which is approximately 3 percent down from last year, according to the AFBF.
By Ovunc Kutlu
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr