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On the Road Again: America’s Leading Tourist Destinations

Most popular tourist attractions in the United States

August 2022

Script

This video is part of our Kite & Key Shorts series — easy to understand ... but hard to forget.

 

Americans are hitting the road. 81% of Americans said they have summer travel plans for 2022.i And as the pandemic wanes, over 40% say they are traveling more than they did last summer.

So, where do Americans go on summer vacation? The most popular international destination: Cancun.ii The most popular domestic destination: Orlando. In fact, Florida ranks #2 amongst states for number of annual visitors

(Behind California)

America’s least visited state? West Virginia.iii

Some places are such popular travel destinations that they’re predominantly made up of tourists. Miami has 16 times as many tourists per year as it has residents … and in Las Vegas, locals are outnumbered 10 to 1.iv In fact, the Las Vegas Strip is tied as America’s second most popular tourist destination … with Central Park. Both sites get 42 million visitors each year.

But the most popular tourist destination in the United States is … Times Square, with 50 million visitors each year.v

If you’re looking for a less crowded travel destination, you might consider ... Gates of the Arctic National Park in Alaska. Gates of the Arctic is the least visited location in the National Park System … because it’s located in the Arctic Circle and has no roads or trails.vi Not a bad place to catch up on some summer reading.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

  1. Cancun is the most popular international destination for summer travel, while Orlando is the most popular domestically.
  2. California is the most visited state in the country, and West Virginia the least.
  3. Times Square is the most visited tourist attraction in the country.

Sources

  1. “Summer Travel Survey 2022 — Nearly 81% to Travel, 42% to Travel More than Last Summer, Nearly 51% to Fly on a Plane, 80% to Road Trip” (Eric Jones) – The Vacationer 
  2. “The Most Popular Summer Travel Destinations for Americans This Year” (Rachel Chang) – Travel & Leisure
  3. The Most Visited States in the United States – Vivid Maps
  4. “New Report Reveals Cities With Highest Tourist-to-Local Ratio” (Lauren Keith) – Lonely Planet
  5. “The 25 Most Visited Tourist Spots in America” (Paulie Doyle) – Newsweek 
  6. “10 Days in 8.4 Million Acres: A Trip to the Least-visited National Park” (Marlena Sloss) – The Washington Post  

Shownotes

SOUND: “Cha Con Marimba” (Omar Sosa)
FOOTAGE: Dino Reichmuth (Unsplash) // Patrick J. Endres (Getty) 

Sources

  1. The Vacationer
    “Summer Travel Survey 2022 — Nearly 81% to Travel, 42% to Travel More than Last Summer, Nearly 51% to Fly on a Plane, 80% to Road Trip” (Eric Jones) 
  2. Travel & Leisure
    “The Most Popular Summer Travel Destinations for Americans This Year” (Rachel Chang)
  3. Vivid Maps
    The Most Visited States in the United States
  4. Lonely Planet
    “New Report Reveals Cities With Highest Tourist-to-Local Ratio” (Lauren Keith)
  5. Newsweek 
    “The 25 Most Visited Tourist Spots in America” (Paulie Doyle) 
  6. The Washington Post
    “10 Days in 8.4 Million Acres: A Trip to the Least-visited National Park” (Marlena Sloss)

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