The Ypartnership/Yankelovich 2009 National Travel Monitor shows the West winning the battle for domestic travel dollars, with the South tagging along just behind.

Visit California

Visit California

When asked about their interest in visiting specific regions across the country during the next two years, more than seven in ten (72%) leisure travelers said they’d like to visit the western region of the United States, followed by the South with 62 percent (62%), the Northeast with 33 percent (33%) and the Midwest with 21 percent (21%).

In the battle of the states, Florida wins the race as the most sought tourist destination with 34% mentioning the Sunshine State as the destination they would like to visit most in the next 2 years.

Florida was followed by California with 30%, and then Arizona and Hawaii, both tied at 16% each. Listed below are the top 10 states.

Florida – 34%
California – 30%
Arizona – 16%
Hawaii – 16%
New York – 15%
Washington (state) - 13%
Alaska – 12%
Colorado – 12%
Texas – 12%
Nevada – 11%

And when it comes to specific destinations, the National Parks top the charts, with 66% of leisure travelers opting for the National Parks as their dream destination, followed by the Hawaiian Neighbour Islands (Maui, Kauai, etc) at 63%, Honolulu at 59%, Florida Keys at 45% and Orlando with 40%.

The bottom 5 of the top 10 destinations were rounded up by San Diego (39%), San Francisco (38%), Las Vegas (36%), New York City (36%) and Lake Tahoe (34%).

In a press statement, Peter C. Yesawich, chairman and CEO of Ypartnership, said that “Given that a lower proportion of U.S. travelers are planning to take an international trip during the next two years, the results of this year’s MONITOR underscore the high degree of interest in travel within the United States. And the data suggest there is a wonderful opportunity for preferred destinations to capitalize on this trend.”

For more information, visit www.ypartnership.com/.