Americans On Vacation
Vacations are one of the things Americans look to the most each year. Whether you’re travelling internationally or just looking to explore somewhere new within your home state, everyone deserves to take time off and hit the road. But where is everyone going when they head out to explore this great country? Which parts of each state is the most popular amongst tourists looking for somewhere new? A recent infographic takes a look at just that, and shares the most-searched tourist destinations, as well as the fastest-rising destinations, in each of the U.S. states.
As you can see by looking at this map, amusement parks are one of the most popular destinations to search for. 12 out of the 50 states have an amusement park listed as either the most-searched or the fastest-rising. The states and it’s popular amusement park are listed below. Have you ever visited one of these amusement parks while on vacation before?
California — Disney California Adventure
Florida- Universal Studios
Georgia– Six Flags
Indiana — Indianana Beach Boardwalk Resort
Kentucky- Kentucky Kindgom
Michigan — Michigan’s Adventure
New Jersey — Mountain Creek Waterpark
Ohio — Coney Island Amusement Park
Oklahoma — State Fair Park
Pennsylvania — Hershey
Texas — Six Flags
Wisconsin — Great Wolf Lodge (water park)
I find it interesting that Universal Studios came in as the most searched for Florida over Walt Disney World. Especially seeing as WDW dominates 70% of Orlando’s tourism market share.
Another interesting tourist destination I found was the fastest-rising one in Hawaii, which was Lava. No, not a city name Lava but the actual hot, magma liquid. Apparently when the lava is flowing in Hawaii, the tourist dollars will be too!
This chart also shares the peak week of the year when tourism searches increase the most and July 1–7 is clearly the most popular week for tourists for a majority of the states. Independence Day is a great excuse to head out of town!
Money spent on travel in 2017 in the United States by both domestic and international travelers totalled a whopping $716.7 billion dollars! This travel generated a total of $2.4 trillion in economic input and also helped to support a total of 15.6 million jobs! According to the U.S Travel Association, every household in our country would have to pay an average of $1,300 more in taxes if we didn’t have the tax revenue generated by travel and tourism, and that’s just the taxes!
Tourism is an important aspect of not only our country, but of many countries around the world. Some smaller countries in the Caribbean actually rely on tourism as their main source of income for the country, which means more travel restrictions (or even having less money to travel) would be damaging to many smaller countries, and even our own. Do you now see why travel is a necessity? Next time you’re trying to choose between a vacation or a tangible item, go with the vacation. It benefits everyone financially, and the vacationers mentally.