Late Friday, Priceline released its annual list of the top 50 North American travel destinations for the Fourth of July weekend. The online, discount-travel company said it believes that its list is one of the most accurate predictors of July 4th travel trends since it is based upon hotel room booking request made by its customers with their credit cards, rather than on consumer polls or votes.
For the second year running, a Chicago neighborhood was listed the top July 4 destination, with Chicago’s North Michigan Avenue and River North Area being number one this year. In fact, the majority of the places were northern destinations, with even 10 of them being north of the U.S.-Canadian border.
Giving his thoughts on the list, Priceline’s Travel Ekspert blogger, Brian Ek said, “With record high temperatures in various parts of the country, many Americans appear to be headed for hopefully cooler northern destinations over the July 4th long weekend. This is similar to the trend we saw last year except, in 2010, it was the BP oil spill that was affecting tourism in southern beach destinations. It's also worth noting the strong recovery of New Orleans. For July 4th, 2010, the city was number 26 on Priceline's list. This year, it's the second most-popular destination for the long weekend."
There are many ways for customers to save money traveling this summer. Priceline said that there is still time for travelers to visit its site to take advantage of its special Fourth of July deals, while CreditDonkey.com recently so, highlighted credit cards that are offering special gas, airline, travel and hotel rewards to include cash back and free room stays.
The Priceline Top 50 Destinations List for July 4th 2011
1. Chicago, North Michigan Avenue and River North Area
2. New Orleans, French Quarter
3. Montreal, Downtown/City Center
4. Ottawa
5. New York City, Midtown West
6. St. Catharines, Niagara Falls
7. Seattle, Downtown/Pike Place
8. Las Vegas, Strip North Area
9. Pittsburgh, Downtown
10. San Diego, Downtown & Harbor Island
11. Chicago, Millennium Park, Loop & Grant Park Area
12. San Francisco, Fisherman’s Wharf
13. Toronto, North Downtown
14. Portland, Downtown
15. New York City, Times Square/Theater District
16. Buffalo, Niagara Falls
17. Harrisburg
18. Toronto, South Downtown
19. Nashville, Downtown/Vanderbilt/Metro Center
20. New York City, Upper East Side
21. Milwaukee, Downtown
22. Las Vegas, Strip Vicinity South
23. St. Louis, Downtown
24. Seattle, Seattle Center/Space Needle
25. London, Westminster
26. New York City, Downtown/Soho/Financial District
27. Anchorage
28. Montreal, Convention Center/Old Montreal
29. Boston, Quincy Market/Faneuil Hall/ Financial District
30. Buffalo, Airport Area
31. Harrisburg, Harrisburg/York
32. Charleston, Downtown
33. Oahu, Waikiki Beach Area
34. Seattle, Airport Area
35. Vancouver, Downtown
36. Atlantic City, Atlantic City/Cape May
37. Washington, DC, Convention Center/Capitol Hill Area
38. San Francisco, Union Square East
39. New Orleans, Downtown Area
40. Orange County, Newport/Huntington Beach
41. Austin, Downtown
42. New York City, Midtown East
43. Banff
44. Victoria
45. Chicago, Greater Chicago Area
46. Los Angeles, Santa Monica/Marina Del Rey
47. Vancouver, Airport Area
48. London, Hammersmith
49. London, Mayfair/Soho
50. Cincinnati, Downtown
What's your favorite destination for July 4th?
Follow @CreditDonkey or write to Andrew Green at andrew@creditdonkey.com
Share this on Facebook or Twitter
