New Study Reveals Which Destinations U.S. Travelers Are Dreaming About

This year is going to be a financial challenge for most of us. Costs are going up faster than incomes and energy prices have soared.

In the meantime, airlines and travel companies are still trying to recover financially from the pandemic.

However, vacations are incredibly important to consumers. Most people make them a priority even when times are hard and the great thing about travel is there are always ways of tailoring it to suit your needs.

To understand which destinations U.S. citizens are planning to visit in 2023, experts at InsureMyTrip reviewed data using Google search trends. The data has been broken down by state.

Surprisingly, only two of the eight cities featured are outside of America – Barcelona and Montreal. However, it’s Barcelona that’s ranked the Number One city Americans are looking to visit overall. It’s the most searched city in 21 states.

With American tourists accounting for the second-largest proportion of Barcelona’s visitors (70,000), it’s clear the city is still a favorite with the U.S. population.

That said, it seems domestic travel is the top priority on the travel wish lists of many Americans in 2023. Six of the eight cities featured in the “most popular” were domestic.

A recent report shows that almost 50 percent of Americans will be opting for domestic tourism because of high inflation and rising prices.

Chicago is the firm favorite across 17 states including Alaska, Kentucky, Montana, and Tennessee.

The ‘Windy City’ is known for its deep-dish pizza, jazz music, and home to some of the most iconic skyscrapers and architecture in the U.S. Chicago reported an an 86 percent increase in visitors since the pandemic and it looks as though this is yet to slow down, with domestic travelers driving the surge in visitors.

Los Angeles is the second most popular city for travel in 2023 with five states searching for the city of angels including Hawaii, Idaho, and Nevada.

The entertainment capital of the world, LA offers a myriad of attractions and activities like movie studios, the Sunset Strip, Venice beach and the infamous Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Los Angeles is expected to achieve a record breaking year in 2023 as 51 Million tourists are estimated to visit.

New York, Boston, San Francisco, and Birmingham are the remaining U.S. cities Americans are looking to travel to in 2023.

InsureMyTrip’s in-house experts also researched the most popular cultural wonders Americans are looking to visit in 2023. The iconic Eiffel Tower and Statue of Liberty were the joint-top choices featuring in 21 states each.

The Eiffel Tower is the most visited paid monument in the world and receives and average of 25,000 visitors a day. The state with highest contribution of searches for the Eiffel Tower is California followed by Texas, Illinois, and Georgia.

Mount Rushmore, Machu Picchu and the Hoover Dam completed the top five most popular cultural wonders of the world that Americans want to visit in 2023.

Sarah Webber, Director of Marketing at InsureMyTrip commented: “With the cost of everything increasing, it’s no surprise American travelers are staying close to home this year. The U.S. has so many wonderful places to visit. However, bucket list travel is big this upcoming year, so it’s interesting to see which international destinations Americans are prioritizing.”

In other words — make sure your passport hasn’t expired.

For more about my Wanderlust and wellness travels, please Follow me on Instagram at @DebbiKickham.