Yahoo Finanzas Where Americans are looking to travel this year, according to Expedia
The first big step toward normality for many Americans amid the coronavirus pandemic will start with a plane ticket.
And according to data provided by Expedia, most of the top 10 most-searched flight destinations during the month of April — specifically looking for trips between July and December 2020 — were within the U.S.
Hotel searches up
It’s important to note that these searches may just be a sign of pent-up demand amid an extraordinary lockdown as opposed to actual travel plans made.
Nonetheless, Expedia users were looking at flights to fan favorites such as Las Vegas, Orlando, Miami, and Maui.
For Vegas and Miami, in particular, which have been exceptionally hard-hit by the coronavirus-induced downturn, the Expedia data suggests a recovery of sorts.
In terms of hotel listings, one surprising entry appeared on the list: New York City. Despite being the epicenter of the outbreak, hotel searches indicated an enduring interest that the Big Apple holds in Americans’ minds.
Beach destinations
A separate note by Koddi, a digital marketing company, indicated a jump in hotel searches in recent weeks and noted a particular interest in beach destinations.
During the first week of May, Koddi saw a 25% week-over-week growth by volume in beach destinations in Texas, Alabama, and Northwest Florida, “corresponding with the reopening of beaches and loosening of restrictions,” the company noted.
The demand from consumers that’s encouraging these searches are most likely to be from leisure travelers “who are looking to salvage any opportunity for summer vacation,” Koddi noted.
For beaches, travelers may opt to forgo airlines — not just because they’re running on limited service, but for safety reasons as well — and rely on vehicles.
Koddi noted that the mode of transportation consideration has implications for destinations “in and around a two to six-hour driving range” of some hard-hit metro areas.
All that said, a new report from Bank of America adds that recovery in the hotel and travel services sector is still likely to be “challenging” since there is likely to be “lasting mistrust of consumers over safety concerns” and “less business travel as meetings migrate online.”
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Aarthi is a reporter for Yahoo Finance.
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