Staycation trends look set to continue this winter as the increased burden of Christmas shopping and family together time impacts on holidaymakers. Forecasts have suggested that this holiday season most Britons are ditching the traditional European jaunts in favour of heading to the countryside or visiting the grandparents.

Tightened purse-strings have seen demand for car hire skyrocket as weekends away come ever closer to home and the low cost or renting a car means that it will be one of the most popular forms of travel this year and next.

Savvy stock market watchers are keeping a keen eye on hire firm stocks, not to mention insurance for liability which generates huge amounts. Oil companies and even civil infrastructure organisations are all set to benefit from the increased passenger traffic on the world’s roads.

In the USA, more people are driving further as good roads and comfortable cars are preferred over expensive air travel. The Thanksgiving projections released by AAA estimate that nearly 40 milion people will travel by car a distance of at least 50 miles from their places of residence for the holiday weekend over Thanksgiving. This represents a rise of 1.4 percent from the same time last or around 2 million more cars on the roads.

The car is now the preferred method of travel once again, despite continued gloom about petrol costs.

Dollar Thrifty is set to be the big winner thanks to its low cost options although Hertz and Avis-Budget will also see a new range of customers. Over the last five years Dollar Thrifty stock has fallen by 21 percent. In the year to date its stock has risen by 1875 percent, so investors everywhere should think carefully when getting behind the wheel this winter about getting behind the chequebook as well.