Internet travel
service priceline.com has released the results of its
2nd annual survey of the 50 most-popular destinations for Memorial
Day. The survey is based on more than 30,000 actual hotel room booking
requests made by priceline.com customers for the May 29-31 long
weekend. Priceline.com sells hotel rooms, airline tickets, vacation
packages, rental cars and cruises, often at significant discounts over
other online travel services.
“We’re seeing very traditional travel patterns for Memorial Day
2004 that are almost a mirror of a year ago, when gasoline was 25%
cheaper,” said Chris Soder, priceline.com’s Executive Vice President,
Lodging and Vacation Products. “People seem intent on not letting fuel
costs get in the way of their Memorial Day celebrations.”
For the second year in a row, the Las Vegas Strip area was the
most requested Memorial Day destination. With the upcoming May 29th
dedication of the new National World War II Memorial, Washington’s
White House/Downtown area was number 2 on the list, up from number 41 a year ago.
In total, four Washington-area neighborhoods found their way on to the
top 50 list.

  Niagara Falls was back on the Memorial Day list for the 2nd
straight year, with the U.S. side of the falls coming in at number 11 and
the Canadian side at number 39. Beach areas were popular again, with spots
like Virginia Beach, Myrtle Beach, Destin/Fort Walton, Key West,
Hilton Head, San Diego, Santa Monica, San Juan, South Beach and
Waikiki all making the top 50 list. Americans traveling
internationally for Memorial Day mostly chose Canadian cities. Outside
North America, London and Paris were the two international
destinations to make the list. And, as expected, the Indianapolis
Motor Speedway Area made its annual appearance on the Memorial Day
list at number 36.

Priceline.com’s 50 Most-Popular Vacation Destinations for
Memorial Day are:

1   Las Vegas Strip Area

2   Washington’s White House/Downtown Area

3   New York’s Midtown West Area

4   New York’s Upper Midtown/Central Park South Area

5   Chicago’s North Michigan Avenue Area

6   New York’s Upper West Side Area

7   Chicago’s Loop/Grant Park Area

8   San Diego Coastal Area

9   Las Vegas’ West of Strip Area

10 Miami’s South Beach Area

11 Niagara Falls (U.S. side)

12 Downtown Boston/Charlestown Area

13 Montreal

14 New Orleans’ French Quarter Area

15 Monterey/Pacific Grove Area

16 San Diego’s Shelter Island/Point Loma Area

17 Orlando’s Disney World Vicinity

18 Orlando’s Universal Studios/Sea World Area

19 San Antonio’s Downtown/River Walk Area

20 Baltimore’s Inner Harbor Area

21 San Francisco’s Union Square/Embarcadero Area

22 Waikiki South Area

23 Palm Springs’ Rancho Mirage/Indian Wells Area

24 Downtown San Diego and Harbor Island Area

25 Downtown Seattle
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