A new study by Airlines Reporting Corporation ranked the top flight destinations for summer travelers, and for the fourth consecutive year Cancun holds the top spot.
The top summer destinations, listed in descending order, are Cancun, New York City, Orlando, London, Las Vegas, Punta Cana, Seattle, Honolulu, Los Angeles and Chicago. Rankings are based on round-trip air ticket sales through U.S. travel agencies and online travel agencies for the period from Memorial Day through Labor Day.
Year-over-year trends among the top 10 destinations show some variation. Las Vegas recorded the largest increase in summer arrivals, rising 8 percent compared with the previous year. Los Angeles followed with a 1.5 percent increase. In contrast, Honolulu saw an 8 percent decline in arrivals this summer, and Seattle experienced a 6.4 percent drop. Overall, average passenger volumes and airfares across the dataset remained largely unchanged.
“When we took a holistic look at the top 10 summer destinations in terms of passenger volume, we saw that the levels stayed steady and strong,” said Chuck Thackston, managing director of data science at Airlines Reporting Corporation. “And since the average cost of a ticket also remained effectively unchanged, vacationing in the United States and abroad continues to be a great deal.”
The report highlights a stable market for summer travel: strong demand for several popular leisure destinations, modest gains for major urban gateways, and a few notable declines in island and West Coast arrivals. With fares steady, travelers can expect comparable costs compared with last summer, while destination popularity shifts reflect evolving traveler preferences and seasonal patterns.