What do Florida, Hawaii, Aruba and Mexico have in common? Besides sunny skies and famous beaches, these locales are also among the most searched all-inclusive destinations by Americans in the last year.
Of the four locations, domestic getaways in Florida and Hawaii outpace international alternatives, revealing that Americans are more apt to strap on their sandals and lounge by the swim-up bar within the country rather than abroad.
Although the bulk of American states’ search queries reveal an interest in domestic travel, South Dakota and New Jersey data differs. Where are they headed?
A recent study conducted by Wealthy Living analyzes search data related to all-inclusive resorts by investigating keyword volumes through search engine optimization tools Ahrefs and Google Trends. The data ranks states by search frequency; scores are determined on a scale of 0 to 500, marking overall interest in all-inclusive travel.
States Searching Vacation Destinations
In the Last 30 Days
Of the top 10 states searching all-inclusive related queries in the last 30 days, half of the resort-related searches are for Hawaiian resorts. The states primarily interested in Hawaiian resorts in the last 30 days are Illinois, Colorado, Iowa, Connecticut, and Michigan.
US residents searching for all-inclusives in Aruba include the states of New Jersey, Georgia and New York.
Kentucky is the only state among the top 10 states with the highest search volume whose top search in the last 30 days is “all-inclusive resorts in Florida.”
Other outlier states among the top 10 include South Dakota, whose residents’ highest search is “all-inclusive resorts Mexico,” making it the only state whose top search is Mexico.
Of the top 10 states, 60% are searching for domestic all-inclusives, and 40% are searching for international all-inclusives.
The states of New York, South Dakota, Colorado, Illinois and Kentucky all appear on the 30-day top searches list but not on the 12-month list, indicating a surge in interest for all-inclusives recently.
Most notably, Kentucky jumps from not ranking at all on the 12-month list to placing first on the 30-day list – a significant jump. Following “all-inclusive resorts in Florida”, Kentucky searches “all-inclusive resorts Hawaii” second-most and “Aruba all-inclusive resorts” third-most. “All-inclusive resorts Mexico” search volumes are minimal in Kentucky.
Ranked from first place to tenth, these are the states with the overall highest search volume in the last 30 days: Kentucky, with 229 points; Illinois, with 225 points; New Jersey at 222; Colorado, with a score of 217; Iowa close behind at 215; Connecticut and South Dakota, both tied at 211; Michigan with 197 points; Georgia at 193; and New York placing tenth with a score of 190.
In the Last 12 months
Over the last 12 months, states that rank among the top 10 for highest all-inclusive related searches include Iowa, and New Jersey, tied for first place with a score of 364; Nebraska, placing third with 336; Michigan, ranking fourth with 328 points; Missouri in fifth place with a score of 324; Georgia ranking sixth at 313 points; Connecticut in seventh place with 305; Minnesota ranking eighth overall with a score of 301; Wisconsin in ninth at 297; and Indiana rounding out the list in tenth place with 295 points.
Over half of the top searches in the last 12 months are for Florida resorts. States that prefer Florida resorts include Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Georgia, and Indiana.
States searching for Hawaiian resorts are Wisconsin and Nebraska.
New Jersey and Connecticut residents are most interested in resorts in Aruba.
Minnesota residents prefer Mexican all-inclusives.
Of these top 10 states, 70% prefer domestic travel over international resorts.
Of the 10 states with the highest search volume in the last 12 months, Nebraska, Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Indiana all appear to have waning interest in all-inclusives, as they do not feature on the 30-day top 10 list.
With a Sustained Interest
Five states have a sustained interest in all-inclusive resorts. Iowa, New Jersey, Michigan, Georgia and Connecticut appear on the 30-day and 12-month top 10 lists for the highest search volumes.
Most Searched All-Inclusive Locations
Overall, Americans search the term “best all-inclusive resorts” an average of 50,000 times per month. Of the four all-inclusive destinations examined, the term “all-inclusive resorts in Florida” has 82,000 monthly searches, “Aruba all-inclusive resorts” has 63,000 searches, “all-inclusive resorts Hawaii” has 60,000 and “all-inclusive resorts Mexico” has 30,000 monthly searches.
It is worth noting that although Aruba ranks second next to Florida in all-inclusive location search volume overall, the volume only reflects high volumes of interest in some states. As identified above, fewer states are interested in international travel when data is disaggregated by state.
Americans are searching for Aruba more than Mexico, despite the fact that Mexico is one of the countries in the closest geographic proximity to America.
While Hawaii and Florida resorts were top searches for many US residents, neither of these states appeared in either of the top 10 lists for states searching all-inclusives.
Regardless of whether one examines 30-day or 12-month state-by-state trends, US residents appear to prefer to vacation domestically.
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This article was produced and syndicated by
Wealthy Living.
Featured Image Credit: Shutterstock / Kaspars Grinvald
