U.S. leisure destinations continue to rise in popularity and offer attractive prices for travellers looking to get away this season.
SAN FRANCISCO – Hotwire.com, a leading discount travel site, announced the top ten destinations where Canadians are vacationing this holiday season. It seems travellers are packing up and headed for the U.S. this year, with destinations like Orlando, New York City and Las Vegas overtaking the previous popularity of domestic getaways. The U.S. has been a good deal for Canadians all year as many popular leisure destinations have dropped prices, attracting international travellers. Still, the mainstay Canadian cities of Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and Ottawa are still largely sought-after, and offer great deals to make the season even brighter.
The sunny city of Orlando tops the list as the most popular holiday destination for Canadians, and New York City comes in second. Both cities up two spots from last year’s number three and four destinations, respectively. Toronto drops down two spots to third, but continues to be the only Canadian destination in the top three for the second year in a row. Placing fourth on the list is Las Vegas (second last year) and coming in fifth is Vancouver (seventh last year), which is offering an average nightly rate of 92 dollars – the third-best deal on the list.
Sixth on the list is Montreal, which has fallen one spot from last year, followed by Miami and San Francisco, which have both risen up a spot since 2012. Rounding out the most popular holiday destinations are two newcomers – Ottawa, with its sub-100 dollar average rate, and the warm California city of Los Angeles.
“Over the past year we’ve seen U.S. cities grow in popularity, topping Thanksgiving’s most popular destination list as well, so it’s no surprise to see the trend continue for the December holidays,” said Pierre-Etienne Chartier, vice president of the Hotwire Group. “Many of these over-the-border destinations offer plenty of family friendly activities and warmer weather – pair that with deep discounts, and we certainly expect this trend to continue into the New Year.”
The 10 most popular holiday destinations for Canadian travellers by hotel bookings, along with average nightly prices for each are as follows:
|
Rank |
City |
Sample Deal |
Neighborhood/Area |
|
1 |
Orlando, Florida |
4-star hotel, $50/night |
SeaWorld |
|
2 |
New York City, New York |
4-star hotel, $143/night |
Midtown East |
|
3 |
Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
4-star hotel, $82/night |
Downtown Toronto East |
|
4 |
Las Vegas, Nevada |
4-star hotel, $30/night |
The Strip-South |
|
5 |
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
4-star hotel, $82/night |
Vancouver Downtown |
|
6 |
Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
4-star hotel, $81/night |
Downtown Montreal |
|
7 |
Miami, Florida |
4-star hotel, $137/night |
Downtown Miami |
|
8 |
San Francisco, California |
4-star hotel, $97/night |
Fisherman’s Wharf |
|
9 |
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada |
4-star hotel, $77/night |
Downtown Ottawa |
|
10 |
Los Angeles, California |
4-star hotel, $92/night |
Downtown Los Angeles |
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
