Athens, Greece
Greece topped America’s list of European destinations, followed closely by Italy, whereas Japan was the most sought-after location in Asia.
Trainline helps Americans find their way across the UK and Europe by train and coach. And this month, they’ve been researching where their pals across the pond have been keen to travel to – both outside and inside the US.
From planning that trip of a lifetime to organising a long weekend with friends, most vacations start off with a simple Google search – but where are American citizens actually looking to go? To find out, they crunched the numbers on over 4.5 million Google searches from the last twelve months, looking at data for c.300 destinations around the globe.
The findings are quite interesting with:
- 16 states opting to go to Mexico, most being pro trump states…
- Hawaii is the most popular destination for staycation/domestic travel
- Hawaiians, it seems, want a break from beautiful beaches to win big in Vegas, while Floridians want to venture north to visit New York.
- Italy & Greece come out on top for the European hotspots
The most searched for foreign vacations from the US
Over the last twelve months, the most-searched-for destination for US citizens was Puerto Rico, showing that holidaymakers still want those rays of sun whilst sticking close to home. Mexico and parts of South America like Costa Rica also ranked highly.
Greece topped America’s list of European destinations, followed closely by Italy, whereas Japan was the most sought-after location in Asia.
The top 10 international vacation spots are:
1. Puerto Rico
2. Greece
3. Italy
4. Costa Rica
5. Japan
6. Canada
7. Mexico
8. Jamaica
9. The Bahamas
10. Thailand
Search volume by state – International travel
Despite not being the most searched for destination overall, Mexico actually topped the list in 16 states around the US, followed closely by Puerto Rico at 14. Check out the map below for more information.
The US’s biggest staycation destinations
Perhaps unsurprisingly, their research confirmed that Hawaii was the biggest go-to destination for US holidaymakers, again offering sun and sea at a fraction of the price of intercontinental travel.
Next up came big city break destinations like New York, Las Vegas and New Orleans. Other popular destinations included famous American landmarks like Disneyland (Florida) and the Great Lakes (Michigan).
The top 10 domestic staycation spots are:
1. Hawaii
2. New York
3. Las Vegas
4. Michigan
5. Florida
6. Chicago
7. New Orleans
8. Atlanta
9. Seattle
10. Denver
Search volume by state – Domestic travel
It’s no surprise that Hawaii was the top destination overall: it topped the lists of 33 states around the US including Alaska, Nevada, Wyoming and more. Florida, Michigan, New York and Vegas were also chart-toppers, but where things get interesting is some of the unique destinations per state.
Hawaiians, it seems, want a break from beautiful beaches to win big in Vegas, while Floridians want to venture north to visit New York.
Methodology
Trainline analysed 4.5 million keywords over the course of twelve months using Google’s Keyword Planner tool. We included a range of phrases like “trips to” and “holidays in” each destination, before cutting the search data by state. Figures accurate as of July 2020. Some data on cities within states or countries has combined i.e. Las Vegas and Nevada, Paris and France, Rome and Italy.
Tatiana is the news coordinator for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). Her role includes monitoring the hundreds of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skimming the most important according to our strategy.
She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication & Mass Media from Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens and she has been editor and editor-in-chief in various economic magazines and newspapers.
