These Travel Destinations Go Viral In The Off-season

Certain towns across the U.S. are known specifically for their most popular tourist periods. South Carolina’s Myrtle Beach has been a summer beach getaway for generations, while Florida’s Panama City is more or less synonymous with college students and spring break.

Over in Maine, Bangor sees its biggest wave of tourism in the fall when the trees around it change color and create that small all-American town feel that feels mostly lost to an earlier time.

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All those cities were named in Airbnb  (ABNB) ’s annual fall trends report as destinations that are particularly popular in the off-season. This can create viral interest in these travel locations.

Airbnb’s trending cities span ‘from the waterfront to the great outdoors’

“When comparing price-per-night over recent years, prices during the year tend to be the lowest in the September through November timeframe, making this a great opportunity for guests to travel affordably,” the vacation rental platform summarized in its 2024 Fall Trends Report. “The cities that saw the most savings for traveling during the fall span all across the US, from the waterfront to the great outdoors.”

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Other affordable fall destinations identified in the report include Somers Point, N.J. (a Jersey Shore town most popular in the summer months) and other summer-forward cities such as Omaha, Neb. and Spokane Valley, Wash.

Specifically for leaf-peeping, Airbnb named long-standing front-runners such as Salem, Mass., Bar Harbor, Maine and Eureka Springs, Ark. as the places where people go to see fall foliage change. 

States with the highest number of Airbnb bookings during the fall months are, in that order, North Dakota, Maine and Massachusetts while places like Fruita in Colorado and Mills River in North Carolina have started to trend this year. Some are specifically popular as “fall destinations” for leaf-peepers while others are seeing a rise in tourists who want to experience it but have been priced out during the popular summer months or are looking to get away from the crowds that are typical during peak periods.

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‘Event-cations’ are inspiring this year’s top international destinations

Internationally, Germany’s Munich and Belgium’s Brussels have risen in the ranks as destinations due to the growing interest in “event-cations” inspired by those who flew to any city in which they could score a ticket to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour but Japan remains the top trending destination among American users of Airbnb for the second year in a row. 

Due to their status as major metropolises with plenty of things to see and do, Tokyo and Osaka are the top Japanese cities Americans seek to visit. At the start of the year, American Airlines  (AAL) launched a new route between New York City and Tokyo that takes 14 hours and 35 minutes to complete (the more common route for Japan-bound travelers from the East Coast of the United States is to go through a city such as San Francisco or Seattle.) 

“Year after year, travelers have continued to seek out its unique blend of tradition and modernity,” Airbnb writes further. “Fall is the perfect time to visit Japan as the country transforms into a scenic landscape of red, orange, and gold."

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