Mexico is always a popular destination for US Thanksgiving travel

US travellers looking to go abroad over the Thanksgiving period continue to be drawn south of the border, according to Allianz Partners.

The Mexican cities of Cancun, San Jose del Cabo, and Puerto Vallarta have again topped the list of popular international destinations being visited by Americans over the US Thanksgiving period. The announcement marks the fourth year in a row that those three cities have been in the top three in Allianz Partners’ annual Thanksgiving list.

The data for the list was gathered by analysing the itineraries of over 800,000 Allianz Global Assistance travel insurance customers who booked round-trip flights departing from US airports between 18 and 23 November, and returning between 24 and 28 November.

Other destinations in the top 10 demonstrated the continued popularity of destinations in the Caribbean and western Europe with American tourists.

Presented in order of appearance, the list included perennial favourites such as London, UK; Montego Bay, Jamaica; Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; Nassau, Bahamas; Oranjestad, Aruba; Paris, France; and Providenciales, Turks and Caicos.

This year’s list is almost identical to the 2022 list, with the main change being Nassau’s slide from sixth place to seventh, and Punta Cana shifting upwards from seventh place to replace it.

New York is the top domestic destination again

The list of popular domestic travel destinations for Thanksgiving 2023 was also comparable with previous years, with New York topping the list, followed by Seattle, Washington; and Orlando, Florida – the same top three destinations as in 2022.

Further down the list, other top destinations in order include Atlanta, Georgia; Boston, Massachusetts; Dallas, Texas; Phoenix, Arizona; Los Angeles, California; Washington DC; and Detroit, Michigan.

While most cities on this year’s list appeared on the previous year’s, 2023 marks the re-entry of Detroit into the domestic top 10 – a city that last appeared in the 2021 list – as well as the departure of Fort Lauderdale, Florida – the number 10 entry for 2022. Also notable is Dallas’s two-place year-on-year jump.

“No matter where you’re headed this Thanksgiving, it’s important to keep in mind that this travel period is historically one of the busiest of the entire year for US airports, and with increased numbers of travellers comes an increased possibility of travel delays,” said Daniel Durazo, Director of External Communications at Allianz Partners USA.

TYT Newsroom