Stars, Stripes, and Travel – many celebrations represent a journey this 4th July
Happy 242nd birthday to the United States! Tomorrow is a national holiday as America celebrates one of its most important days of the year, the Fourth of July (also known as Independence Day).
But whilst the focus for Americans of all ages across the States is to celebrate by hosting parades, holding barbeques, attending picnics or concerts, and of course enjoying fireworks, travel plays an integral part in achieving that – and for some travel is an objective in itself.
This year alone, 46.9 million Americans are expected to travel over 50 miles away from home in celebration of Independence Day. That’s 5% more than last year and the highest number recorded for over 18 years, according to the American Automobile Association. That appears to be simply because many are taking advantage of the holiday falling on a Wednesday, allowing people to extend this weekend passed all the way up to Thursday morning with just two days of annual vacation allowance.
As a matter of fact many Americans will be travelling much further than just 50 miles from home. According to travel expert Patrick Surry, 14 million seats are scheduled to depart from domestic airports for the four busiest travel days over the period, which are between Friday June 29 through to Monday July 2nd; each ticket bought averages at about $374 for a round-trip, meaning that roughly $5.2 billion will have been spent on flights alone as a result of the 4th of July. What a great time for the travel space!
At Hotelbeds Group, we have identified that the most frequented destination booked via our platform for this Fourth of July continues to be, at both a domestic and international level, Orlando, FL. Our beloved city of Orlando – where the Hotelbeds Group regional offices have over 500 staff – each year hosts some of the most beautiful firework shows from all over the States.
The Red Hot & Boom, which is Orlando’s most popular fireworks show attracts over 100,000 people each year, and let’s not forget our Disney World Fireworks, the Magic Kingdom is very popular for hosting beautiful fireworks shows with music on both July 3rd and July 4th.
Plus, this year we have great news for our travelers coming to Orlando: Walt Disney World just this past weekend opened its newest attraction, Toy Story Land, at its Hollywood Studios park.
Orlando isn’t the only place where travelers who have booked using our Group’s platform are going. Las Vegas, Paris, Rome, and New York, in descending order, are also filling-up with American travelers during these dates.
Only when you start to look at the complete journey of a tourist experience – and realize that not every tourist experience involves a beach, or even a flight – do we begin to see how big the travel & tourism industry really is. That firework bang or gasoline going into that car could explain why 10% of the world’s GDP and jobs comes directly from travel & tourism – and why America makes up such a big part of that. What better way to celebrate this Fourth of July than doing your bit for the economy?
