An Inside Look at How Americans Traveled in 2023

20.12.2023 - 09:27 / travelpulse.com / Mia Taylor

While many reports this time of year are focused on looking at what lies ahead, Skyscanner is taking a different approach.

The global travel marketplace has crunched its voluminous booking data from the past 12 months to provide an insider's review of the “Year in Travel” for 2023.

All of the Skyscanner number crunching resulted in insights surrounding the most popular travel destinations of the past year among U.S. travelers, cheapest flights, biggest hotel bargains, and even the most budget-friendly car rental destinations.

Let’s start with the most popular travel destinations, shall we?

Drumroll please….

Sin City aka Las Vegas, Nevada nabbed the top spot in the hearts of American travelers in 2023, attracting more visitors than any other location.

“From visiting one of the many world-famous casinos or checking out world-renowned restaurants and shops on the Las Vegas strip, US travelers loved to visit and feel the vibes of Sin City,” says the Skyscanner report. 

Coming in second place among Americans was the eternal favorite, London.

Another destination that has much to offer American tourists, London features varied culture, rich history, modern architecture and of course, the royal family.

Rounding out the top three most popular travel destinations among Americans in 2023 was Cancun.

Welcome to Las Vegas sign. (Photo via iStock / Getty Images Plus bluejayphoto)

While there’s no saying this will hold true in 2024, if budget travel is on your agenda, make note of the following information.

The cheapest flight destination of 2023 was Oakland, California. A return ticket to the city cost an average of $131.

Located on the east side of San Francisco Bay, Oakland can be a convenient place to fly into should you have plans to explore the Golden Gate city. Oakland itself is known for Old Oakland, where visitors can take in restored Victorian architecture and indulge in boutique shopping.

The cheapest three-star hotel stay of 2023, meanwhile, can be found on the other side of the globe in Vietnam—in the coastal city of Nha Trang, where three-star hotels average about $20, says Skyscanner. This result was determined after analyzing prices across thousands of destinations globally.

If a bargain car rental is what you’re after, you’ll have to head to Panama City, Panama. That’s the location of the cheapest car rental of 2023, where U.S. travelers paid an average of a mere $7 per day.

If there’s one key takeaway that Skyscanner’s data crunchers observed after reviewing all the 2023 data, it is this: travelers were looking for bargains.
 
 “This year, more and more US travelers opted for alternative, budget-friendly secondary US cities, which means travelers skipped more popular cities such as New York and Miami to visit