by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 2:21 PM ET, Tue September 17, 2019
Have Angelenos suddenly become more interested in traveling to Miami? And are Houston residents opting to spend more of their vacation days in cooler locales?
A new study from Upgraded Points highlights these and other emerging travel trends. The study involved looking at flight data to determine which destinations are growing in popularity based on origin airports.
To develop its conclusions Upgraded Points analyzed and compiled the information from the busiest airports that serve as origin points, reviewing the year-over-year change in passengers from airport to airport in order to identify destinations that have become more popular for each origin.
"Looking at destination popularity can be quite revealing, especially concerning vacation spots," Upgraded Points Founder Alex Miller said in a statement. "Not only does it show us the most exciting vacation locations chosen for any given season or year it also reveals that a traveler's origin greatly influences where they like to visit. For instance: Seeking a beach to flee the winter, or moving from the plains to the mountains. One thing is certain - travel preferences are not constant. Americans like variation when it comes to their travel habits."
Here are some of the key takeaways from the report, which is based on data collected by the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) for the 20 busiest U.S. airports in 2018.
Growth Per Destination
Some destinations explored in the study, including the number of passengers passing through each airport, revealed:
-Seattle (SEA): Nearly 50 million passengers
-Detroit (DTW): Over 35 million passengers
-Houston (IAH): Almost 44 million passengers
-Boston (BOS): Just over 40 million passengers
-San Francisco (SFO): Nearly 58 million passengers
Many percentages of growth exceeded 100 percent in just one year, according to the report.
For instance: Passengers traveling from Atlanta (ATL) to Ontario, California (ONT) grew 106 percent, while those traveling from Chicago (ORD) to Burbank (BUR) increased by a striking 1,164 percent.
And those traveling from Fort Lauderdale (FLL) to San Antonio (SAT) netted a 1,635 percent increase.
Other origin points offered different data. For example, Denver (DEN) saw a 714 percent increase in travelers heading to Cody, Wyoming (COD).
Similarly, the number of individuals traveling from Los Angeles, CA (LAX) to Omaha, NE (OMA) increased by 209 percent year-over-year.
Fastest-Growing Destinations
Milwaukee is clearly experiencing a surge in popularity, according to the report. It shows up twice as the top growing destination for those traveling from Houston and Seattle airports.
San Antonio, meanwhile, is the fastest-growing travel destination for travelers originating in Fort Lauderdale and Philadelphia.
Air passengers from Boston and Orlando meanwhile are increasingly flying to Sacramento, California.
The full report can be viewed here.
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