Cheapflights.com Ranks the Rising & Falling Stars of North America’s Travel Destinations

BOSTON, MA–(Marketwire – August 4, 2010) –  After compiling search data from the first six months of 2009 and 2010, Cheapflights.com, the online leader in finding and publishing travel deals, has come out with its North America’s Rising Stars Report for 2010. The list ranks the 100 most frequently searched destinations according to their change in popularity over 2009.

Sister sites Cheapflights.ca and Cheapflights.co.uk have run the same comparisons for travelers from Canada and the UK. While the rising stars vary greatly across the US, Canada and UK, the top spots were all held by tropical getaways.

Havana, Cuba, tops the Cheapflights.ca North America’s Rising Stars Report, showcasing Cuba’s growing appeal for those able to travel there. Georgetown, Grand Cayman, tops the Cheapflights.co.uk North America’s Rising Stars Report, followed by Belize City, Belize, and San Juan, Puerto Rico, underscoring the British love of finding a sun-filled escape. The Cheapflights.com North America’s Rising Stars Report is topped by two Mexican destinations, Mexico City and Guadalajara, demonstrating a renewed consumer confidence in travel to Mexico, as well as great airfare deals, after last year’s H1N1 outbreak.

“Clearly, hot spots are the hot spots for travel this year,” says Meredith Hanrahan, Chief Travel Officer at Cheapflights. “As the economy bounces back, travelers are looking to get a little further away and enjoy some real rest and relaxation. This is great news for many tourist-centric economies, especially for Mexico, which was so hard hit by the H1N1 flu outbreak in 09.”

Of the 100 most searched destinations, below are the top 5 destinations that saw an increase in popularity based on searches in 2010 compared to 2009 at Cheapflights.com:

The most popular U.S. cities that saw an increase in popularity at Cheapflights.com in 2010 include Key West, Florida (#11), Milwaukee, WI (#13), Reno, NV (#14), Minneapolis, MN (#15) and Rochester, NY (#16)

On the flip side, the cities below saw the biggest drop in popularity from 2009 to 2010.

To see Cheapflights.com’s full list of 100 destinations in North America’s Rising Stars Report for 2010, visit www.cheapflights.com/promos/north-americas-rising-stars/

Methodology
The 2010 North America’s Rising Stars Report was compiled by comparing the difference in search volume between 2009 and 2010 for the 100 most searched destinations in the U.S., Canada, Central America and Caribbean.

This look at the rising and falling stars in North America is the first in a series of regional destination popularity indexes. Stay tuned for ranking on the year over year search performance of destinations in Europe, Asia and beyond.

About Cheapflights Media
The trusted partner in flights, Cheapflights Media is a global Internet media network that has been delivering great deals since 1996. Headquartered in London with offices in Boston and Toronto, Cheapflights Media serves advertisers and consumers through its vast portfolio of websites and services. Packed with travel guides, tips and the latest news and information, the Cheapflights sites are online shopping comparison engines that make it easy for consumers in local markets to research, compare and save on domestic and international trips. With brand-name deals on airline tickets from more than 250 partners and 600 airlines and a team of travel experts hand picking the best offerings, Cheapflights offers visitors a mix of deals they can’t find anywhere else. There are currently Cheapflights-branded sites for the U.K., U.S., Canada, Germany, Australia and New Zealand, France, Italy and Spain. For more information visit www.cheapflights.com

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