Where Leisure Travelers Want To Go

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(ORLANDO, FL) -- The summer vacation season is now upon us, and the latest results from Y Partnership's travelhorizons survey suggest the industry should be cautiously optimistic about what the next few months will bring. Specifically, fully 54% of U.S. adults are planning at least one overnight trip during the next 6 months, up from 50% the same time last year.

So which domestic destinations make the list of "dream destinations" for leisure travelers? The results, according to our just-released 2009 National Travel MONITOR, are revealed below.

Florida and California continue to reign as the states Americans would like to visit most on vacation, with fully one-third (34%) of leisure travelers mentioning the former and three out of ten (30%) citing the latter. Arizona, Hawaii and New York follow, mentioned by roughly one out of six leisure travelers:




Of the 25+ specific destinations in which we measure consumers' interest, the National Parks were identified as the dream destination by fully two-thirds of American leisure travelers, followed by the Neighbor Islands of Hawaii (63%), Honolulu (59%) and the Florida Keys (45%):





Actual visitation patterns are affected by such practical considerations as the cost of getting there, the time required to travel there, and the lodging and related expenses incurred while staying there. All other things being equal, however, the aspirations reflected in these preference measures auger well for future visitation of the listed destinations.

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