Yellowstone National Park

Which U.S. Destinations Are the Strongest?

Published May 18, 2020 | By Clark Norton

Yellowstone is a location for one adult summer camp. Photo from YellowstonePark.com

Yellowstone National Park ranked second overall in the survey. Photo from YellowstonePark.com

While travel searches took a big hit the last couple of months — off by almost two-thirds in total — many people are still dreaming about, and planning for, their future vacations.

According to the folks at rentcafe.com, a nationwide apartment search website and a research blog, 42 percent of those surveyed still want to pursue their travel plans when permitted. But which destinations are holding strong during the pandemic?

To find out, RENTCafe analyzed travel-related Google searches for 960 destinations in the U.S. and then ranked them as top overall destinations, towns, beaches, and natural areas that saw the smallest drop in interest from would-be vacationers.

The survey followed Google travel searches during March and April of this year. All searched destinations were off by at least 25… Continue reading →

Posted in Baby boomer travel, Beaches, National Parks, Travel Behavior, vacation rentals | Tagged 2020 travel plans, Aspen Colorado, Fairbanks Alaska, Hawaii beaches, Moab Utah, Nantucket island, Outer Banks North Carolina, post-pandemic travel planning, rentcafe.com, Yellowstone National Park | 2 Comments

The Most Visited U.S. National Parks

Published September 26, 2016 | By Clark Norton

Bison roam Yellowstone National Park. Photo by Dennis Cox/WorldViews

Cotopaxi, a company that makes backpacks, jackets and other outdoor gear — and donates a percentage of its earnings to worthy causes around the world — has come out with an infographic in celebration of this year’s 100th anniversary of the U.S. National Park Service.

It shows the top five U.S. National Parks in terms of annual visitation, plus five “Hidden Gems” that are far less visited.

The top five visited National Parks, in order, are Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains, Arizona’s Grand Canyon, Colorado’s Rocky Mountain, California’s Yosemite, and Yellowstone, which extends over parts of three states: mostly Wyoming, but also Montana and Idaho.

I’ve visited all of the most popular ones at one time or another, but have to admit I’ve never been to any of the Hidden Gens: Washington’s North Cascades, Florida’s Dry Tortugas, South Carolina’s… Continue reading →

Posted in Arizona, Baby boomer travel, California, educational travel, Family travel, Hiking, National Parks | Tagged Cotopaxi, Grand Canyon, Great Smoky Mountains, Rocky Mountain National Park, U.S. National P:arks, U.S. National Park Service Centennial, Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite | 2 Comments

More Global Must-Sees for Baby Boomer Travelers

Published January 28, 2014 | By Clark Norton

A friendly Galapagos iguana. Photo by Clark Norton

In my previous post, I contrasted my list of “must-see” sites around the world with that of Patricia Schultz, author of the best selling bucket list guidebook, “1000 Places to See Before You Die.”

With an eye specifically on baby boomers, and without wanting to be too grim about it, I wanted to accentuate places that are themselves at least somewhat in danger of dying or being considerably altered in coming years, for a variety of reasons.

So far, we’ve covered five regions of the globe — Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Australia/New Zealand/Pacific Islands. Now let’s tackle the U.S./Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean area.

U.S./Canada: There are so many possibilities in North America, but I’ll pick Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming/Montana over Schultz’s Monument Valley.

Yellowstone is not only a remarkably diverse collection of sights — from… Continue reading →

Posted in Baby boomer travel, Boat travel, Countries, National Parks | Tagged Amazon Nature Tours, baby boomer travel, baby boomers and tourism, bucket list travel, Sacha Lodge, Santo Domingo, the Amazon, the Panama Canal., travel marketing, Yellowstone National Park | 2 Comments

According to government and private surveys:

Leading-edge baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1955) and seniors account for four out of every five dollars spent on luxury travel today.
Roughly half the consumer spending money in the U.S.--more than $2 trillion--is in the hands of leading-edge baby boomers and seniors.
Baby boomers (born 1946-1964) travel more than any other age group.
When asked what they would most like to spend their money on, baby boomers answered “travel” more than any other category, including improving their health or finances.