NORWALK, Conn. - (Business Wire) Priceline.com (Nasdaq: PCLN) today released the results of its 5
th annual survey of the 50 most-popular destinations for the upcoming Independence Day weekend. The survey is based on hotel room booking requests made by priceline.com customers for check-in between June 29 and July 4.
“Travel trends for the upcoming long weekend are reflective of the holiday itself, and possibly the economy,” said Brian Ek, general manager of PriceBreakers®, priceline.com’s last-minute travel deals service. “Cities that offer free entertainment in the form of fireworks, music, arts and other holiday-themed events are big draws. Beaches, which tend to be budget-friendly getaways, are also popular.”
Priceline said it still has hotel rooms, airline tickets, vacation packages, rental cars and cruises available for the long weekend, often at significant discounts over other online travel reservation services.
This year’s Top 50 July 4th Destinations list saw several changes over 2007. In the top spot is New York’s Times Square/Theater District. After capturing the top spot in 2006 and 2007, Chicago’s Millennium Park, Loop and Grant Park Area slipped this year to the number #4 spot. However, the news was mixed for The Big Apple. In 2007, New York City took four of the top 10 spots on the list; this year it occupied two spots (#1, #3).
Downtown St. Louis made a strong showing on the list at #7. The city’s Fair Saint Louis and LIVE on the Levee recently announced that the festival had moved locations from the levee to downtown due to flooding. Downtown Milwaukee made the list (#25) for the second year in a row. The city is hosting its musical Summerfest 2008 on the shore of Lake Michigan. And time-honored tourist attraction Niagara Falls is in vogue this year, with St. Catharines on the Canadian side taking spots #15 and #35.
Internationally, London grew in popularity for the third year in a row. This year, it took four spots on the list (#36, #42, #44 and #50), compared to three spots in 2007 (#12, #31, #32), and one spot (#35) in 2006.
The Priceline Top 50 Destinations List for July 4th 2008
| 1 | | New York City, Times Square/Theater District |
| 2 | | Las Vegas, Strip Vicinity South |
| 3 | | New York City, Chelsea Area |
| 4 | | Chicago, Millennium Park. Loop & Grant Park Area |
| 5 | | Washington, DC, White House/Downtown |
| 6 | | New Orleans, Downtown/Convention Center |
| 7 | | St. Louis, Downtown |
| 8 | | Boston, Copley Square/Theater District |
| 9 | | San Francisco, Union Square West |
| 10 | | San Diego, Coastal Area |
| 11 | | New York City, Central Park South |
| 12 | | Chicago, North Michigan Ave/River North Area |
| 13 | | Seattle, Downtown |
| 14 | | Las Vegas, Strip Vicinity North |
| 15 | | St. Catharines, Niagara Falls |
| 16 | | New York City, Empire State Building Area |
| 17 | | Oahu, Waikiki Beach Area |
| 18 | | New York City, Midtown East |
| 19 | | Montreal |
| 20 | | San Antonio, Downtown/Riverwalk |
| 21 | | Orange County, Disneyland Area |
| 22 | | San Francisco, Union Square East/Embarcadero |
| 23 | | San Francisco, Lombard Street Area |
| 24 | | Orlando, Universal Studios/Sea World |
| 25 | | Milwaukee, Downtown |
| 26 | | San Diego, Downtown & Harbor Island |
| 27 | | San Diego, Point Loma/Shelter Island/Old Town |
| 28 | | New Orleans, French Quarter |
| 29 | | Vancouver |
| 30 | | Toronto, Downtown |
| 31 | | Hilton Head Island |
| 32 | | San Francisco, Fisherman's Wharf |
| 33 | | Monterey, Monterey/Pacific Grove |
| 34 | | Nashville, Downtown/Vanderbilt/Metrocenter |
| 35 | | St. Catharines, North Niagara Falls |
| 36 | | London, Bloomsbury/Marble Arch |
| 37 | | Orlando, Disney World Vicinity |
| 38 | | Boston, Quincy Market/Faneuil Hall/Financial District |
| 39 | | Oahu, Waikiki Marina Area |
| 40 | | Virginia Beach |
| 41 | | Philadelphia, Downtown |
| 42 | | London, Regents Park/Baker St. |
| 43 | | Quebec |
| 44 | | London, Mayfair/Soho |
| 45 | | Paris, Eiffel Tower/Grenelle/Montparnasse |
| 46 | | New York City, Downtown/Soho/Financial District |
| 47 | | Key West |
| 48 | | Puerto Rico, San Juan |
| 49 | | Myrtle Beach |
| 50 | | London, Docklands Area |
About Priceline.com(R) Incorporated
Priceline.com Incorporated (Nasdaq: PCLN) www.priceline.com provides online travel services in 21 languages in over 60 countries in Europe, North America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Included in the priceline.com family of companies is Booking.com, a leading international online hotel reservation service, priceline.com, a leading U.S. online travel service for value-conscious leisure travelers, and Agoda.com, an Asian online hotel reservation service.
Priceline.com believes that Booking.com is Europe’s largest and fastest growing hotel reservation service, with a network of affiliated Web sites. Booking.com operates in over 60 countries in 17 languages and offers its customers access to over 45,000 participating hotels worldwide.
In the U.S., priceline.com gives customers more ways to save on their airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, vacation packages and cruises than any other Internet travel service. In addition to getting great published prices, leisure travelers can narrow their searches using priceline.com’s TripFilter advanced search technology, customize their search activity through priceline.com’s Inside Track features, create packages to save even more money, and take advantage of priceline.com’s famous Name Your Own Price® service, which can deliver the lowest prices.
Priceline.com also operates the following travel websites: Travelweb.com, Lowestfare.com, RentalCars.com and BreezeNet.com. Priceline.com also has a personal finance service that offers home mortgages, refinancing and home equity loans through an independent licensee. Priceline.com licenses its business model to independent licensees, including priceline mortgage and certain international licensees.
Press:
Priceline.com
Brian Ek, 203-299-8167
brian.ek@priceline.com
