One of the main reasons Pack Up + Go was created almost a year ago now was because we felt there was a gap between how much Americans like to travel and how many American cities those same people have visited. So many of our friends and family members had traveled all around the world, visiting so many different continents and countries, but they had never been to more than four or five states here at home.

That’s not to say that international travel isn’t great. Obviously we’re huge proponents of that, as well. We just thought that some people were too quick to exclusively look abroad before exploring some of the amazing destinations we have right in our backyard. Thus, Pack Up + Go was born!

Now, it seems that more and more Americans have caught on to this mentality. According to the U.S. Travel Association, in the month of September, “80% of lodging searches by U.S. residents were domestic.” This organization has began tracking this data two years ago and this is the highest percentage they’ve seen so far.

As you can see in the second map in the article, the Southeast led all regions in domestic lodging searches with 29%. Closely in second and third were the Southwest at 20% and the Far West at 19%. Rounding out the rankings were the Mideast (12%), the Great Lakes (7%), Rocky Mountain (5%), the Plains (4%), and New England (3%). And guess what? We’ve got multiple destinations in each of those regions, having now sent our Pack Up + Go-ers to over 40 cities around the country!

The interest in American destinations is increasing overseas, as well. Searches for lodgings in U.S. cities has increased 16%, while searches for other popular destinations have either remained consistent or decreased.

So what does that mean for you? It means the United States is hotter than ever with it’s long list of amazing destinations. Hop on the bandwagon and get going!