The new year and the winter weather (at least here at Lycos headquarters outside Boston) always bring thoughts to getting away. Since our friends at Lycos Travel have recently created a new travel reservation service with special negotiated rates on airfares, car rentals and hotel rooms, we thought the Lycos 50 would take a look at the top travel cities online.
Las Vegas is by far the most popular city for web users. After all, it is the only city that makes the Lycos 50, and it has been on the list for all 73 weeks since we began counting. Over the year 2000, Las Vegas received more searches than the next three cities combined.
There were a couple of surprises in the list. Cancun is very popular, particularly a spring break destination for college students. New York has also seen a rise in the past year, since it finishes second among American cities here but was fourth when we first ranked cities back in 1999.
Three cities jump out as hot vacation destinations for 2001 due to their recent rise: Myrtle Beach, Amsterdam, and San Antonio.
Myrtle Beach is a South Carolina beach resort which is becoming a new spring break getaway. It gets many more searches when compared to nearby (and better-known) Hilton Head. Amsterdam is popular with young people who enjoy the city's liberal drug laws and social environment.
San Antonio? Who would expect it to finish ahead of larger Texas cities Dallas and Houston? We're somewhat puzzled, but the Alamo and the Riverwalk are clearly underestimated as tourist draws.
Here are the Top 20 cities for Lycos users for the year 2000:
1) Las Vegas
2) Cancun
3) New York
4) Paris
5) London
6) Chicago
7) New Orleans
8) Myrtle Beach
9) Boston
10) San Diego
11) Washington, D.C.
12) San Francisco
13) Toronto
14) Niagara Falls
15) Amsterdam
16) Orlando
17) Seattle
18) San Antonio
19) Houston
20) Atlanta
This list does not include searches for specific travel destinations in each city, such as Disneyworld or Washington Monument. This helps explain why Orlando does not rank higher, since many Lycos users search for specific places in Orlando rather than the city itself.
The biggest omission has to be Los Angeles, which ranks at only number 27 despite numerous tourist destinations and fabulous weather. Even if you add in searches for Hollywood, Los Angeles would finish only number 16.
