While most Americans are sticking closer to home during the
Memorial Day holiday period, there are signs that travelers are
putting economic and other concerns aside and becoming more
adventurous in their trip selection. The findings are part of a new
survey by Internet travel service priceline.com(R),
which looked at actual hotel room demand for the Memorial Day period.

Priceline.com
typically sells around 1 million hotel room nights in a
quarter, so the survey is one of the largest publicly available gauges
of travel purchase intent.
  “Priceline.com`s findings are generally consistent with prevailing
travel sentiment, but some of these trends could signal a welcome
shift in consumer attitudes with summer almost upon us,” said travel
expert and consumer advocate Christopher Elliott. “The triple whammy
of geopolitical, health and economic issues is still influencing
consumers` travel choices. Vacations are supposed to relieve stress,
so it`s natural to see people gravitate to the so-called `safe-haven`
destinations where they won`t be concerned. Stressed-out consumers are
even waxing a bit nostalgic in their vacation plans this year and
heading back to childhood memories, which could explain the popularity
of places like Niagara Falls, Myrtle and Virginia Beach and, of
course, Disney.”

Mr. Elliott continued, “The travel industry should be encouraged
to see the further-away, fly-in destinations like Hawaii and Europe
popping back onto travelers` radar screens. It shows that people are
willing to spend again on travel if the deals are good and the value
is there.”
 
Priceline.com`s 50 Most-Popular Vacation Destinations for Memorial
Day are:

1 - Las Vegas Strip, 2 - Chicago`s North Michigan Avenue, 3 - New York City`s Midtown West, 4 - Miami`s South Beach, 5 - New York`s Central Park South, 6 - New York`s Upper West Side, 7 - West Strip, Las Vegas, 8 - San Francisco`s Union Square East, 9 - The French Quarter, New Orleans, 10 - Orlando`s Disney World, 11 - Chicago`s South Michigan Avenue, 12 - Universal Studios/Sea World
13 - Myrtle Beach, 14 - Key West, 15 - New York`s Midtown East, 16 - Wailea-Makena (Maui), 17 - San Juan
18 - Niagara Falls, 19 - Santa Monica/Marina del Rey, 20 - Virginia Beach, 21 - Downtown San Antonio, 22 - Downtown San Diego, Harbor Island, 23 - Paris, 24 - Barcelona, 25 - Montreal, 26 - Waikiki West, 27 - Hollywood, 28 - Destin/Ft. Walton, 29 - Boston`s Back Bay/Theater District, 30 - Downtown Seattle, 31 - Vancouver, 32 - Downtown Boston, 33 - Myrtle Beach, 34 - Baltimore Inner Harbor, 35 - San Antonio West, 36 - Fort Walton Beach, 37 - San Diego`s Torrey Pines area, 38 - New York`s Midtown South, 39 - Hilton Head, 40 - Rancho Mirage/Indian Wells, 41 - Washington, DC, White House area, 42 - Monterey, 43 - Downtown Orlando, 44 - Ka`anapali/Lahaina (Maui), 45 - Anaheim/Disneyland, 46 - Mission Bay, 47 - New York`s Upper East Side, 48 - Indianapolis Speedway area, 49 - Downtown San Francisco,
50 - Charlotte  
——-