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Americans ready to travel after COVID-19 restrictions ease
Many Americans are searching for future travel destinations amid COVID-19 lockdown restrictions easing.
There has been an increase in online searches among Americans for domestic travel as restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic are slowly being eased throughout the country, according to data gathered by Expedia.
Although there is also interest in international travel, borders in different countries will be opening at different times, which appears to be piquing more Americans’ interest in traveling to different states within the country.
The top 10 most-searched flight destinations in April for those traveling between July and Dec. 2020 were mostly domestic (8 out of 10):
- Orlando
- Honolulu
- Las Vegas
- Miami
- Cancun
- Maui
- London
- Los Angeles
- Denver
- San Juan
Many people are looking to travel to popular holiday destinations such as Las Vegas, Orlando and the Hawaiian islands, according to Expedia’s data.
A majority of Americans seem to be looking to vacation in warmer, coastal states such as California and Florida (domestic) or Mexico and the Caribbean (international).
The top 10 destinations for Americans looking to travel between May-June 2020 based on their hotel searches in May:
- Chicago, IL
- Gulf Shores, AL
- Atlanta, GA
- New York, NY
- Dallas, TX
- Houston, TX
- DC
- Philadelphia, PA
- Phoenix, AZ
- Pensacola, FL
And here are the top 11 of the 25 most searched destinations Americans look at in May for the travel period between May until the end of the year based on hotels:
- Los Angeles, CA
- Myrtle Beach, SC
- Las Vegas, NV
- St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL
- Clearwater, FL
- Orlando, FL
- Destin, FL
- Miami, FL
- San Diego, CA
- Panama City, FL
- Orange County, CA
It appears that Americans are ready to get out of their homes and out of their home states once restrictions are eased.
Many states in the U.S. have already started to ease restrictions as optimism for a viable vaccine continues to increase.
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Despite health officials warning about a possible second wave of COVID-19 cases, President Donald Trump has urged states to reopen their economies and even their houses of worship. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to warn against mass gatherings, urging Americans to maintain social distancing practices to avoid worsening the ongoing outbreak.
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But Americans took to beaches and participated in other outdoor activities over Memorial Day weekend, many flouting social distancing guidelines and not wearing masks.
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Some states saw spikes in cases as large crowds continued to gather to celebrate during the festivities. There was also an increase in air travel as people were eager to get out of their quarantine rut and attempt to return to life as usual.
The U.S. has had 98,636 confirmed deaths due to COVID-19 and more than 1.6 million confirmed cases as of May 26, according to data gathered by Johns Hopkins.
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