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Now that spring has sprung and it looks as if an end to the pandemic might be in sight, many Americans are again planning vacations — and they’re booking beach destinations in a big way, says Trivago.
The online global accommodations platform, based in Dusseldorf, Germany, has seen “clickouts” — users clicking on trip deal links to other travel booking sites — steadily increase since the start of the year, with 27% month-over-month growth in March, compared to 17% in January. (Increasing clickouts indicate more people are looking to book travel, according to Trivago.)
Most of those clicks were for trips to warm weather climes.
The top destinations for March 2021 as tracked by Trivago included Miami Beach and Panama City Beach in Florida; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; and Cancun, Mexico. Also trending with U.S. travelers were San Juan, Puerto Rico, and other overseas sun-and-fun destinations like Playa Bavaro in the Dominican Republic and Playa del Carmen, Mexico.
“With many Americans craving safe, warm weather getaways, beach destinations have been the No. 1 choice for travelers as the country reopens,” said Axel Hefer, CEO of Trivago. “In fact, our recent consumer travel survey found that nearly a fourth of U.S. travelers’ idea of a ‘dream vacation’ post-pandemic is being on a tropical island.”
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Hefer said a year of lockdowns and new progress in the fight against Covid is behind the surge in travel interest to sunny stretches of seaside sand.
“The pent-up demand, as well as significant progress in recent weeks on the vaccination front, has led Americans to pursue spring break trips to coastal destinations where social distancing is easy, as well as neighboring international cities like Cancun and Playa Bavaro,” he said.
In other findings, Trivago said domestic travel represented 79% of clickouts by Americans in February and March, and same-day and next-day travel remained the most popular to book — accounting for 14% of total clickouts in March.