August 12, 2017
Mexico? Thailand? Germany?
How about none of the above. The New York Times took on the task of visually compiling each state's most "unusually popular summer travel spot" in a recent feature, and it looks like Pennsylvanians and New Jerseyans jumped at the opportunity to trade in their hiking trails and Jersey Shores for something a bit different.
The New York Times organized the map based on new data from Facebook that examined where users "checked in" while traveling abroad every summer since 2012. The map shows not the most popular destinations, but which are "unusually popular with people in a given state, compared with where most Americans travel during the summer," according to the report.
For Pennsylvania, the top five travel destinations are Puerto Rico, Canada, Ireland, the Dominican Republic and Liberia.
(Good thing airlines are now adding nonstop services out of Philadelphia International Airport to San Juan, huh?)
New Jerseyans had a few toss-ups on its list which featured the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Portugal, India and Macedonia, in its top one through five rankings.
"Travel in the summer months can best be explained by migrants visiting family and friends back home," the New York Times wrote in its report. "About half of all Dominicans in the United States lived in New York state in 2015, with almost all of them residing in New York City."
The New York Times' report comes shortly after its mapped out feature that found what musical artists are streamed most via YouTube in regions across the country. Philly's roundup including a bit of Nicki Minaj, Drake and Michael Jackson, too.
Check out the New York Times' summer travel map here.
