Airlines Reporting Corp. revealed this week that Cancun and New York once again garnered the number-one spots for international and domestic air travel destinations for travellers originating in the U.S. during the Thanksgiving and Christmas-New Year’s holiday season. Strong year-over-year passenger growth to Manila for Thanksgiving (+25%) and Ho Chi Minh City for Christmas through New Year’s (+39%) helped those cities achieve a place on ARC’s top 10 list for the first time.
An analysis of ARC data also revealed that, although Punta Cana remained on both seasonal top- 10 lists, passenger volume fell 21% for each holiday compared to the same period last year, causing its ranking to slip from #3 on both lists in 2018 to #5 for Thanksgiving and #7 for the Christmas-New Year’s holiday this year.
As of November 3, 2019, holiday travel round-trip ticket prices for the top 10 destinations are running 4.5% higher than in 2018: Thanksgiving $486 (domestic), $1,043 (international) and Christmas-New Year’s $571 (domestic), $1,006 (international).
Thanksgiving Season*
The top 10 international flight destinations in 2019 are:
Cancun
London
Montego Bay
Manila
Punta Cana
Paris
Los Cabos
Bangkok
Tel Aviv
New Delhi
The top 10 domestic flight destinations in 2019 are:
New York
Orlando
Las Vegas
Chicago
Los Angeles
Dallas
Denver
San Francisco
Miami
Atlanta
*Thanksgiving Season Notes:
-Total purchased tickets examined for the Thanksgiving holiday season: 1,127,678
- All travel purchased on or before 11/03/19
- Simple round trips with U.S. origin
- Travel dates between the Saturday before Thanksgiving (11/23/19) until the Monday after (12/2/19)
- Tickets sold by U.S. travel agents, including online sites
- Does not include tickets purchased directly from airlines
Christmas – New Year’s Season**
The top 10 international flight destinations in 2019 are:
Cancun
London
Manila
Montego Bay
Paris
Los Cabos
Punta Cana
Puerto Vallarta
Mexico City
Ho Chi Minh City
The top 10 domestic flight destinations in 2019 are:
New York
Orlando
Los Angeles
Denver
Honolulu
Miami
Las Vegas
Ft. Lauderdale
Phoenix
San Francisco
**Christmas – New Year’s Season Notes:
-Total purchased tickets examined for the Christmas – New Year’s season: 1,111,668
- All travel purchased on or before 11/03/19
- Simple round trips with U.S. origin
- Travel dates between the Saturday before Christmas (12/21/19) until New Year’s Day (1/1/20)
- Tickets sold by U.S. travel agents, including online sites
-Does not include tickets purchased directly from airlines
Recommended for you...
