By Dan Klepal
The Cincinnati Enquirer

There will be more holiday travelers in the air this year and fewer on the road.

That's the prediction from AAA, which says air travel will increase by 7 percent over the 10.5 million people who traveled by plane during the Christmas and New Year's holiday season last year.

Nearly 46 million people are expected to take a trip by motor vehicle this holiday, which would be about 3 percent fewer than last year.

Sandra Guile, public relations coordinator for AAA in Cincinnati, said that overall 1 percent fewer people are going to travel this holiday.

"That's probably in relation to the slow economy," Ms. Guile said. "Locally, our biggest travel days were earlier this week, with the majority of people going to Florida."

Sandra Hughes, AAA Travel vice president, said more than 59 million Americans will take a trip of 50 miles or more.

"The most encouraging aspect of this year's travel forecast is that for the second straight holiday Americans are returning to the skies in increasing numbers," she said.

E-mail dklepal@enquirer.com