Orbitz Insider Index Examines What Made Travelers Tick in 2014

Orbitz Looks Back at Most-Booked Destinations, Busiest Travel Weeks and Most Popular Hotels for the Past Year


CHICAGO, Dec. 16, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Summer travel, Las Vegas and beach destinations dominated the minds of travelers in 2014. In its Look Back Orbitz Insider Index, Orbitz.com examined the dates, destinations and deeds that motivated travelers in 2014, providing a glimpse into their habits and preferences heading into the New Year.

Busiest Travel Weeks in 2014: A long July Fourth weekend pushed the holiday into first place, based on hotel and airfare bookings. June was the busiest month for travel with two of the top five weeks falling in June according to Orbitz.com booking data. The Christmas holiday came in third busiest and although the Wednesday before Thanksgiving was the busiest travel day of the year, Thanksgiving week did not make the top five.

Orbitz Insider Index: The Top Five
Busiest Weeks of the Year1
2014 Rank Week
1 June 29 to July 5, Fourth of July week
2 June 22 to June 28, fourth week of June
3 Dec. 21 to Dec. 27, Christmas week
4 June 15 to June 21, third week of June
5 May 18 to May 24, third week of May

Top 2014 U.S. Destinations: Las Vegas retains its spot as the number one U.S. domestic destination thanks to new headlining shows by Shania Twain and Britney Spears, followed by New York, no doubt due to great deals, new hotels, popular attractions and major sporting events over the past year.

Big cities topped the list followed by beach and family-friendly destinations like Orlando and San Diego. Seattle came in seventh on the heels of a big win for its football team and an unusually mild and dry fall. Atlanta took the ninth spot this year, perhaps motivated by a surge in zombie travelers, inspired by AMC's hit show "The Walking Dead," coupled with an appealing downtown area with up-and-coming culinary and music scenes.2

Orbitz Insider Index: The Top U.S. Travel
Destinations in 20143
2014 Rank Destination
1 Las Vegas
2 New York
3 Chicago
4 Orlando
5 San Diego
6 San Francisco
7 Seattle
8 Los Angeles
9 Atlanta
10 Miami

Top 2014 International Destinations: European mainstays London and Paris held on to their popular status this year, but international travelers largely stayed in North America and the Caribbean with Cancun, Mexico topping the list as the most popular international destination. Punta Cana, Dominican Republic scored the number two spot because of better deals in the past year with prices dropping as much as 4 percent from 2013. Hong Kong, the world's most international city and new to this year's list, ranked seventh with many Americans capitalizing on a stronger than normal dollar.

Orbitz Insider Index: The Top International Travel
Destinations in 20144
2014 Rank Destination
1 Cancun
2 Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
3 London
4 San Juan, Puerto Rico
5 Paris
6 Playa Del Carmen, Mexico
7 Hong Kong
8 Toronto
9 Riviera Maya, Mexico
10 Niagara Falls, Canada

What Did People Do on Vacation in 2014: As Orbitz.com predicted earlier this year, experiential travel was a priority for tourists in 2014 as travelers looked for cultural, adventurous or iconic experiences during their journeys. Orbitz.com editors looked at booking data to identify the top experiences around the globe. Four of the top 10 attractions were based in Mexico, which is no surprise given it had such a strong presence on the top international destinations list. Classics like the Eiffel Tower and Vatican museum continue to be fan favorites.

Orbitz.com Insider Index: Top Tours and Excursions of 2014
1 Xcaret Eco-Waterpark Excursion (Riviera Maya, MX)
2 Selvatica Adventure: Ziplining & Cliff Diving (Riviera Maya, MX)
3 El Yunque Rain Forest Excursion (San Juan, PR)
4 9/11 Memorial Tour (NYC)
5 Cabo Sunset Cruise (Cabo San Lucas, MX)
6 Las Vegas Strip Helicopter Night Flight
7 Vatican Museum, St. Peter's Basilica & Sistine Chapel Tour (Rome, IT)
8 Skip the Line Tour: Eiffel Tower (Paris, FR)
9 Chichen Itza Ruins Tour (Chichen Itza, MX)
10 Old Lahaina Luau (Maui, HI)

Best Reviewed Hotels: The customer knows best, especially when it comes to ranking the world's best hotels. The Orbitz Best in Stay list is determined by the overall numeric score of verified hotel reviews submitted by Orbitz customers who have booked and stayed at hotels in the past year. Customers rate the hotels based on amenities, hotel staff, room comfort, location and value.

Orbitz Insider Index:
Top 10 Domestic Hotels Based on Reviews
Orbitz Insider Index:
Top 10 International Hotels Based on Reviews
1 Las Vegas: Wynn Las Vegas Cancun: Excellence Playa Mujeres Cancun
2 New York: The Peninsula New York Punta Cana: Iberostar Grand Hotel Bávaro
3 Chicago: The Peninsula Chicago London: One Aldwych, London
4 Los Angeles: Montage Beverly Hills Jamaica: Half Moon, A Rockresort
5 Washington, D.C.: The Hay-Adams Paris: Hotel Bel Ami
6 Orlando: The Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes Niagara Falls: Niagara Falls Marriott Fallsview Hotel & Spa
7 Denver: Hotel Teatro Aruba: Bucuti and Tara Beach Resorts
8 San Francisco: Fairmont Heritage Place, Ghirardelli Square Barcelona: Hotel Casa Fuster
9 Maui:  Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea Puerto Vallarta: Marriott CasaMagna Puerto Vallarta Resort & Spa
10 Miami: Metropolitan by COMO, Miami Beach Hong Kong: The Peninsula Hong Kong

1 Busiest travel weeks and individual days determined by total air bookings (domestic and international) made on Orbitz.com by 12/1/14 for travel between 1/1/14 and 12/31/14. Each seven-day period included travel booked Sunday through the following Saturday.
2 http://news.atlanta.net/news/eat-shop-and-play-like-a-movie-star-in-atlanta
3 Top domestic destinations determined by total hotel and package bookings made on Orbitz.com by 12/1/14 for travel between 1/1/14 and 12/31/14.
4 Top international destinations determined by total hotel and package bookings made on Orbitz.com by 12/1/14 for travel between 1/1/14 and 12/31/14.

About Orbitz.com

Orbitz.com is a leading travel website that enables consumers to search for and book a broad range of hotels, flights, car rentals, cruises, vacation packages and destination activities. Since launching in June 2001, Orbitz.com has become one of the world's largest online travel sites. Orbitz.com now offers the groundbreaking Orbitz Rewards loyalty program—the only program where customers can earn rewards immediately on flights, hotels and packages, and redeem instantly on tens of thousands of hotels worldwide. Use the Orbitz Rewards Visa® Card to earn even more rewards. Orbitz.com is the #1 way to book travel on mobile devices, be it using our apps (get them at www.orbitz.com/mobile) or our smartphone-optimized website (m.orbitz.com), both of which are tailored for smartphones and tablets. The Orbitz app won the 2014 Appy Award for best travel app. Orbitz also ranks #1 in Online Travel Website Customer Satisfaction in the 2014 American Customer Satisfaction Index. Follow Orbitz on Facebook, Twitter and through the Orbitz Travel Blog. Orbitz.com is operated by Orbitz Worldwide (NYSE:OWW).

About Orbitz Worldwide

Orbitz Worldwide (NYSE:OWW) is a leading global online travel company using technology to transform the way consumers around the world plan and purchase travel. Orbitz Worldwide operates the consumer travel planning sites Orbitz (www.orbitz.com), ebookers (www.ebookers.com), HotelClub (www.hotelclub.com) and CheapTickets (www.cheaptickets.com). Also within the Orbitz Worldwide family, Orbitz Partner Network (www.orbitz.com/OPN) delivers private label travel technology solutions to a broad range of partners including some of the world`s largest airlines and travel agencies, and Orbitz for Business (www.orbitzforbusiness.com) delivers managed travel solutions for companies of all sizes. Orbitz Worldwide makes investor relations information available at investors.orbitz.com.



            

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