Americans flocking to Florida on Labor Day weekend

Americans are still planning to travel this Labor Day weekend despite COVID-19 concerns. And despite being a “hotspot” of virus cases for most of the summer, Florida is reportedly the most popular destination, according to travel itinerary app TripIt.

TripIt analyzed the top 100 destinations for U.S.-origin roundtrip flight reservations made from Jan 1 – Jul 30, 2020, with a travel date between Sep 4 – 8, 2020, and compared that to an equivalent booking and travel window in 2019.

Florida is leading the way with Labor Day flight reservations this year, with 12% of all plans. In 2019, Florida’s share of LDW flight reservations was 4%, representing a 200% year-over-year increase.

Florida also dominates hotel reservations for the holiday weekend, with 5 out of the top 10 spots, with four (Orlando, Lake Buena Vista, Bay Lake, and Kissimmee) located in the immediate Disney World vicinity. In 2019, only Orlando cracked the top 10.

While big cities like New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Atlanta still rank in the top 25 destinations, each of these cities have dropped in rank, most notably NYC, which dropped 14 spots — from No. 5 for Labor Day travel in 2019 to No. 19.

After spending the majority of last year recovering from hurricane damage, many Caribbean and Mexico destinations are allowing Americans to visit with the caveat that visitors adhere to strict COVID policies. Aruba, for example, requires in-flight masks and a negative PCR test within 72 hours prior to departure or at arrival.