NORWALK, CONN. - Americans not staying home for the holidays are gladly giving up their traditional seat by the fire for sun and sand, according to the latest data analysis from priceline.com, a leader in online and mobile travel and part of The Priceline Group. The brand recently looked at thousands of sold airline tickets for the upcoming holidays to see where residents across the country will be headed this season.
The number one out-of-state destination this Thanksgiving and Christmas is Florida, with California coming in as a close second. Travelers on the East Coast are heading south, and Midwest states are heading further west. Additionally, warm weather states are heading for colder weather and cold weather states are heading for warmer weather, such as Floridians flying to New York.
"With Thanksgiving and Christmas being two of the busiest travel holidays of the year, Americans will be flying to visit friends and family, or to escape to a tropical resort for the holidays," said Brigit Zimmerman, Senior Vice President of Air and Vacation Packages at priceline.com. "Priceline.com has airfare deals on last-minute flights to get travelers where they need to be and at savings up to 40% off retail rates."
Here is an overview of where travelers are flying out-of-state for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.
Thanksgiving:
Represents flights booked on priceline.com departing between Nov. 20th and Nov. 27th, 2015.
- The most popular out-of-state destinations are Florida and California.
- Florida is the most popular destination for residents in 19 states.
- Travelers on the East Coast from New York, Vermont, Maine and Massachusetts will be heading down south to Florida.
- Travelers on the West and Midwest from Washington, Colorado, Arizona and Nebraska will be heading further west to California.
Christmas:
- Represents flights booked on priceline.com departing between Dec. 19th and Dec. 31st, 2015.
- The most popular out-of-state destinations are Florida and California.
- Florida is the most popular destination for residents in 25 states.
- New York is the most popular destination for residents in only 4 states, including Arizona, Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina, which means that they will be trading in their sandals for snow boots this holiday.
- New Yorkers are the most international travelers as four of their top destinations include Asia, South America, the Caribbean, and Europe.
