Vacation travel will always be popular among work-weary Americans—particularly affluent travelers who want to spend their well-deserved time off in the most desirable destinations. Online publisher Thomas, Townsend & Kent (TTK) and market intelligence firm BIGresearch recently polled subscribers to TTK’s travel publications, Your Travel Insider and Luxury Cruise News, to gauge their opinions on the “hot” travel destinations. Survey respondents were asked to evaluate the appeal of several U.S. and international cities, as well as a number of travel activities.

Subscribers to these popular e-magazines are affluent Americans who love to travel—many take several vacations per year and some spend more than $10,000 on their vacations. This travel-savvy group continually researches new and exciting options for their next vacation.

Of the 19 international cities named in the poll, Rome is the city of choice, respondents giving it a “hotness” rating of 79.4%. Next in line is the always popular Paris with a 73.1% rating, and London is close behind with 71.5%. Berlin pulls up the rear at 29%.

“Perceptions of what travel destinations are ‘hot’ are critical—they are the first step in the planning process,” stated Roy Weiss, TTK’s executive vice president. “Knowing what these travel trend-setters find ‘hot’ is a good indicator of what the most popular destinations will be this year and beyond,” he added.

The top U.S. vacation destination is Hawaii, with 90.6% of affluent Americans citing it as a travel “hot spot.” Las Vegas was voted the second “hottest” domestic location with a rating of 83.6%.

Weiss added that it was not surprising that weekend getaways (88.7%) and large full-service resorts (81%) are “hot.” Interestingly, biking trips (37%) and food-themed vacations (48.4%) are climbing as well.

For this “What’s Hot in Travel” survey, TTK and BIGresearch polled 4,121 individuals in TTK’s various travel-related databases.

For a complimentary report on these findings, please visit www.thomastownsendandkent.com .
——-