On the heels of President Obama's signing of the Travel Promotion Act, travel site Skyscanner is revealing which countries like to flash their cash the most when traveling and where in the U.S. they plan on going in 2010 - Germany is in the lead, but China is quickly climbing up the ranks.
According to the World Trade Organization (WTO), German travelers are the biggest spenders; capitalizing on the strong Euro and U.S.-inbound travel deals— like seasonal cheap flights to New York— and are closely followed by the British, French, Chinese, Japanese, and Italians. According to Skyscanner's data, New York is bound to get a big chunk of this pie, at least amongst U.S destinations, which collectively show some very positive growth figures for 2010.
Skyscanner's statistics show a 130 percent increase in searches for cheap flights to the U.S., over last year. Travelers from the UK lead the pack, followed by Germany and Italy. China has shown a great increase this year, surpassing Russia.
The Top 10 list of favored destinations includes the usual suspects: New York, Orlando, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Miami, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta. Cities that are not usually regarded as destinations for foreign tourists, like Phoenix and Portland, OR, have also shown growth— a trend that is expected to increase in the coming months.
While Skyscanner's data shows New York to be the favorite destination for foreign tourists, it is particularly preferred by the British - fully 25 percent of queries from the UK focused on the Big Apple as compared to 5 percent amongst the Chinese. And while cheap flights to Honolulu didn't make the Top 10 list, Honolulu is the second-most popular city for Japanese tourists. Hawaii also attracts many Russian visitors, who interestingly also do many searches for destinations in Alaska.
Visit www.skyscanner.com.