There won't be as many Americans going over the hills and through the woods this holiday season, as the American Automobile Association predicts more of them will stay home.

The travel organization estimated that nearly 64 million Americans will travel 50 or more miles around Christmas and New Year's, down 2.1 percent from the 65.3 million that AAA said traveled during the 2007 holiday season.

"Without question, the economic downturn of 2008 eroded the discretionary income many Americans would have spent on travel and, for some, altered their travel plans throughout the year," said AAA President and Chief Executive Officer Robert L. Darbelnet. "However, those traveling this holiday season can take advantage of declining hotel rates and fuel prices -- more than a dollar per gallon less than a year ago."

The AAA said 2008 will mark the first decline in end-of-year holiday travel since 2002. It had predicted travel declines for all five major holiday periods in 2008.

The Air Transport Association, a trade group of U.S. air carriers, predicted that the number of people traveling by air will decline by 9 percent in 2008, which falls in line with the airline industry's reduction in flying capacity.

The AAA largely agreed with ATA, predicting an 8.5 percent drop in air travelers, to 8.1 million. By contrast, it sees only a 1.2 percent decrease in the number of people traveling by automobiles, to just over 52.4 million people, and a 0.7 percent increase to 3.33 million people planning to travel by bus, train or other form of transportation.

The AAA said hotel rates should be down and car rental costs up, with airfares down during the week of Christmas and up the week afterward.

Overall, hotel rates during Christmas week should be down 3 percent from 2007. Airfares will be down 9 percent, and car rentals will cost 2 percent more, the AAA said. During the week of New Year's, hotel rates for AAA Three Diamond hotels appear down 16 percent, airfares up 3 percent and car rental rates up 8 percent.