Most holiday destinations in warm climates

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Americans may be dreaming of a white Christmas but warm, sunny destinations are among the most popular vacation spots for the Christmas holiday, according to statistics from the travel website Orbtiz.

The website’s ranking of the top Christmas destination found that seven of the 10 most popular Christmas vacation spots are in warm climate cities — Orlando, Fla.; Los Angeles; Cancun, Mexico; Miami; Phoenix; Fort Lauderdale; and Tampa Bay.

The same trend holds for travel for the New Year’s celebration with a few changes in the top 10.

And if you’re looking to save money for holiday travel, the Orbitz ranking found that Tampa Bay will have the lowest combination of airfares and hotel rates of the top 10 Christmas vacation spots and Orlando will have the best deals over the New Year’s holiday.

The average airline ticket to Tampa Bay between Dec. 23 and Dec. 27 will be $423 and the average hotel rate will be $75 a night, according to Orbitz. In contrast, the most expensive of the top 10 Christmas destination will be Cancun, with average airfares of $720 and daily hotel rates of $283.

Over the long New Year’s weekend, the average airfare to Orlando will be $307, with average daily hotel rates of $94, according to Orbitz. Among the most expensive: Honolulu tops the list with average airfares of $726 and average daily hotel rates of $119.

Related:

Americans get less vacation, still don’t use it all, study says

Leisure and business travel continue to grow

Hugo Martin

(Photo: Vacation goers enjoy the water in Hawaii. Credit: Los Angeles Times.)