Memorial Day 2011 Travel Trends: Priceline.com Reports That Chicago & London Are Big Draws For Summer Travel Kickoff

NORWALK, Conn., May 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Chicago’s tony North Michigan Avenue is the most popular destination forMemorial Day 2011, according to priceline.com’s (Nasdaq: PCLN) annual survey of the 50 top destinations for the holiday that traditionally kicks off the summer travel season.  In the nine years that priceline.com has published the list, Chicago has taken the top spot four times, tying the record set by Las Vegas in 2009.

Priceline.com’s Memorial Day Top 50 list is based on actual hotel room booking requests made by priceline.com Name Your Own Price® hotel service customers for the upcoming holiday period.  Because the survey is based on booking requests, and not on consumer preference polls or votes, priceline.com believes its annual survey is one of the more accurate predictors of holiday travel trends.

Another winner on the Memorial Day list this year is London.  Last year, no overseas cities were on the priceline.com list.  This year, three London neighborhoods (Westminster, Mayfair/Soho and Hammersmith) made the list, while Rome and Barcelonaeach were listed once.  “UK tourism got a big boost from the Royal Wedding,” said Priceline’s Travel Ekspert Brian Ek.

In a recent priceline.com survey, 86% of the respondents said they were going to take a vacation this year, and 68% of them said that a “staycation” wasn’t going to fill the bill.  The majority of respondents said they would vacation outside their home state.  “This year’s Memorial Day top destinations list suggests that they’re serious about what they said,” commented Ek.  “Some of the smaller, local ‘drive-up’ cities that were on the list last year have been replaced by larger cities, European countries and popular ‘fly-to’ destinations like Las Vegas and Puerto Rico.”

An American tradition made it back onto priceline.com’s top Memorial Day destinations list after a long absence.  Indianapolis, home of the Indy 500 auto race, came in at #24 this year.  2006 was the last time Indy appeared among priceline.com’s topMemorial Day destinations.

With almost three weeks to go before Memorial Day, there’s still plenty of time to get a deal on an airline ticket, hotel room, vacation package, rental car or even a cruise by visiting http://www.priceline.com. For special travel bargains, visit PriceBreakers http://www.priceline.com/pricebreakers, priceline.com’s last-minute deals service, which is updated daily.  Travelers who choose priceline.com’s Name Your Own Price® option can save up to 60% on hotels, 50% on airline tickets and 40% on rental cars compared to published fares and rates.