Gas prices have been trending downward as we get closer to the Christmas holiday. The average price for a gallon of regular gas in South Dakota is $3.19 a gallon, which is down ten cents from a month ago and down four cents in the past week. Shawn Steward with AAA says it is because of lower crude oil prices and lower demand. He says travel numbers look to be up this Christmas, with 110 million people on the move. That’s a 34 percent increase from a year ago and within 8 percent of the pre-pandemic number in 2019. An overwhelming majority of those travelers, 100 million, are expected to drive to their destination. Air travel is expected to be up 184 percent from last Christmas. Steward adds that airline tickets, car rentals, and hotels are more expensive than last year as demand for travel is high. He expects those numbers to remain high into the spring.