Traveling this fall? Here’s what to expect

Cities remain travel destinations. So are tropical places like the Caribbean and Cancun.

In the year By 2020, travelers were moving away from urban centers to coastal towns and national parks, where they felt it was a safer place to go, TripAdvisor’s Brian Hoyt said.

But last fall, Las Vegas, New York City and Orlando replaced places like Key Largo, Key West and Atlantic City as the top three destinations for travelers in fall 2020, according to TripAdvisor.

The trend continues: Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Denver, Orlando and New York are the five most booked destinations for fall in the United States, according to travel booking site Hopper. For international travelers, cities like San Juan, Puerto Rico; Cancun; Mexico City; Barcelona; And Rome is in 10, according to Hopper.

“What’s old is new again,” Mr. Hoyt said. High-density population centers are back in fashion.

But low-key vacations are still a draw. Ocean City, NJ, a beach town 11 miles south of Atlantic City, was the top-trending U.S. destination this fall based on the number of nights booked, according to Airbnb. This is part of the trend of extending summer. There’s high demand from visitors who flock to the eight-mile stretch of beach in September and October, when the summer crowds come out and the town hosts events like antique car shows and big parties and fireworks, Michelle Gillian said. Executive Director of the Ocean City Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Travelers are eager to head to Europe, where demand for flights and hotel bookings is “on par” with 2019, said Karim George, travel consultant and owner of Culture Travel, a firm specializing in luxury travel.

“Italy comes first, which is not surprising because Italy always stands out,” Mr George said.

London, Paris, Munich, Copenhagen and Dublin were the top cities searched by people looking to travel between September 6 and November 15, according to Expedia.

The Amalfi Coast in southern Italy and the whitewashed Greek island of Santorini in the Aegean Sea are so popular this fall that travelers are scrambling to find accommodation, said Charles Neville, spokesman for boutique travel agency Jayway.

People are so eager to visit these destinations, they’re willing to spend $600 to $700 a night on accommodations that might not be convincing for that amount, he said.

Mr Neville said he was encouraging clients to book later in the autumn when the weather is still pleasant and the crowds are less, or to consider Sicily, Croatia and the more popular islands in Greece such as Paros and Naxos. “This could be the way to make your dream Greek island vacation come true without breaking the bank,” he says.

The US, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Colombia and Costa Rica are seeing more passengers book trips in 2019 than they did in 2019, said Scott Keyes, founder of Scott Cheap Flights. The countries are easy to get to and airline tickets are generally cheap — a round trip from anywhere in the U.S. to Colombia was about $260 in August, he said.

“For many people, the first trip they want to take back overseas is fun but not too far,” Mr Keys said.

That’s the kind of ease Sylvia Sims, a retired sales manager in suburban Detroit, wanted when she and three friends started planning their fall trip last May. Settled in Jamaica, Ms. Sims, 71, has traveled nearly a dozen times since the early 1980s and has not visited since April 2019.

“I go back to a place I love to visit and feel safe,” she said. – Maria Kramer