KAYAK's 'Return to Travel' Hacker Guide Methodology

Unless otherwise indicated, we considered searches conducted on the US KAYAK site between 01/01/2021 and 03/30/2021 for travel from the US occurring for summer travel dates specified as 05/01/2021 - 09/30/2021, unless otherwise noted below.

All flight searches are round-trip economy flights, excluding price outliers based on certain criteria.

• Destinations are restricted to the top 1,000 most searched destinations in the United States with 15+ hotel properties in the destination.
• Based on user location, destinations within a certain driving radius are showcased.
• Radius definitions
  • Destination 1: 50-100 miles from user location
  • Destination 2: 200 miles from user location
  • Destination 3: 300 miles from user location
  • Destination 4: 400 miles from user location
• Displaying average Stay and Car Rental price for the current month for each destination

• Updated monthly, flight destinations with the greatest year over 2-year decrease in airfare from the top 300 most searched destinations
• Travel dates as indicated above
• Search dates vary by month and are specified as
  • May Data: 03/26/2021 - 04/25/2021
  • June Data: 04/26/2021 - 05/25/2021
  • July Data: 05/26/2021 - 06/20/2021
  • August Data: 06/26/2021 - 07/25/2021

• Updated monthly, flight destinations with the greatest month over month percent increase in searches from the top 300 most searched destinations
• Travel dates are all future travel dates
• Search dates vary by month and are specified as
  • May Data: 03/26/2021 - 04/25/2021 vs. 2/26/2021 - 3/25/2021
  • June Data: 04/26/2021 - 05/25/2021 vs. 03/26/2021 - 04/25/2021
  • July Data: 05/26/2021 - 06/20/2021 vs. 04/26/2021 - 05/20/2021
  • August Data: 06/26/2021 - 07/25/2021 vs. 05/26/2021 - 06/25/2021

• Most-searched flight destinations of a curated list of international destinations that travelers can enter with proof of full COVID-19 vaccination or proof of a negative test as specified by the country. Destinations that required more than a 7-day quarantine period were excluded from consideration.
• Entry information and local vaccination summary sourced from KAYAK Travel Restrictions database.
• Median airfare: Median airfare by month for destination based on indicated travel and search dates.
• Median stays: Median hotel/vacation rental nightly rates by month for destination based on indicated travel and search dates.
• Median rental car: Median daily rental car rates by month for destination based on indicated travel and search dates.

• Top Solo Travel destinations (1 passenger) that have a higher solo travel percentage than the overall US Solo Travel average. Percent indicates overall solo travel percentage per destination.
• Entry information and local vaccination summary sourced from KAYAK Travel Restrictions database.
• Median airfare: Median airfare by month for destination based on indicated travel and search dates.
• Median stays: Median hotel/vacation rental nightly rates by month for destination based on indicated travel and search dates.
• Median rental car: Median daily rental car rates by month for destination based on indicated travel and search dates.

• Hotel destinations with the greatest volume of searches for 3+ travelers. Rank change indicates change from 2019 data.
• Entry information and local vaccination summary sourced from KAYAK Travel Restrictions database.
• Median airfare: Median airfare by month for destination based on indicated travel and search dates.
• Median stays: Median hotel/vacation rental nightly rates by month for destination based on indicated travel and search dates.
• Median rental car: Median daily rental car rates by month for destination based on indicated travel and search dates.