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America's 250th anniversary is reshaping how the country travels this summer, driving a surge in road trips even as a striking share of Americans sit this vacation season out entirely. Meanwhile, a very different trend is pulling international travelers toward the specific towns, coastlines, and countryside where their favorite shows and films were shot. Both stories are unfolding at once, and together they capture just how fractured summer 2026 travel behavior has become.
America250 Is Putting the Country on the Road
Hilton's 2026 Trends Report found that celebrations marking America's 250th anniversary, peaking across the country in July, are driving a genuine surge in road trips this summer. According to the report, 71% of Americans plan to drive to their next vacation rather than fly, a notably high share reflecting both the patriotic pull of the anniversary and, likely, ongoing cost sensitivity around airfare.
Search traffic on Hilton's own booking platform tells a clear story about where that road-trip energy is heading. Rather than the usual coastal hotspots, the biggest search increases are showing up for Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma City, Madison, Wisconsin, and Mobile, Alabama, all destinations favoring outdoor escapes and regional Americana over traditional beach or resort getaways. This lines up with the broader domestic travel surge other platforms have reported, with JustFly finding domestic search demand up more than 34% year-over-year, concentrated in cities like Washington, D.C., Las Vegas, New York, Denver, Boston, and Seattle.
But Four in Ten Americans Are Staying Home
The road trip surge is happening alongside a genuine affordability crisis for a meaningful share of the population. A survey of 5,000 Americans conducted by Talker Research found that four in ten Americans will not travel at all this summer due to high costs, a figure that echoes Deloitte's finding that only 45% of Americans plan a summer vacation with paid accommodations this year, the lowest share in six years.
The booking funnel data shows just how much indecision is baked into this year's travel plans:- 21% of respondents have already booked a trip
- 35% plan to travel but have not yet booked anything
- 18% are considering a trip but remain genuinely undecided
That combined 53% of still-undecided or unbooked travelers represents a significant opportunity for travel advisors and booking platforms willing to actively engage undecided prospects rather than waiting for self-directed bookings, particularly as availability tightens heading deeper into peak July travel weeks.
Set-Jetting Sends Travelers Chasing Their Favorite Screens
On the international side, a different and increasingly powerful trend is reshaping destination demand: set-jetting, travel inspired specifically by movies and television shows. Expedia's research found that more than half of travelers say they are more interested in taking a screen-inspired trip than they were just a year ago.
Specific destinations are seeing measurable tourism boosts tied directly to recent screen productions:- Yorkshire, UK — driven by the latest adaptation of "Wuthering Heights" and the finale of "Downton Abbey"
- Tuscany, Italy — featured prominently in Noah Baumbach's new film "Jay Kelly," starring George Clooney and Adam Sandler
- The Dalmatian Coast, Croatia — the setting for the Netflix film "People We Meet on Vacation"
- Dubrovnik, Croatia — continuing its long-running popularity as the filming location for King's Landing in "Game of Thrones"
These destinations benefit from international airfares that remain unusually affordable this summer, with fares to Europe down roughly 14% year-over-year and international long-haul fares to Europe and Asia trending especially low for the 2026 season, creating a rare window where set-jetting fans can chase their favorite filming locations without paying the premium those trips would typically command.
Cruising Continues Its Steady Climb
Cruising remains one of the most resilient segments of the 2026 travel market. AAA projects more than 21.7 million Americans will take an ocean cruise this year, up from 20.7 million in 2025 and just 14.2 million in 2019. Nearly all US cruise passengers surveyed have taken multiple cruise vacations, according to AAA Travel, reflecting the segment's unusually high repeat-customer loyalty compared to other travel categories. The passenger base skews older, with 65% of adult US cruisers aged 55 or older, though cruise lines are actively courting younger travelers with shorter, more flexible itineraries designed to appeal to people who cannot commit to a full week-long voyage.
Off-the-Beaten-Path Destinations Gain Ground
Beyond the major trends, smaller and less obvious destinations are seeing real growth. Road Scholar identifies Malta, Ecuador, Azerbaijan, and even Oklahoma as its top trending program destinations for 2026, a list that reflects both genuine emerging interest and the flexibility of Road Scholar's largely retired customer base, with an average participant age of 72, many of whom have the schedule freedom to travel off-season when prices are lower and destinations are less crowded.
What This Means for Travel Businesses
The practical lesson for hospitality operators and travel marketers is that 2026 rewards specificity over broad seasonal messaging. Generic "summer vacation" campaigns are competing against a genuinely fragmented set of motivations: patriotic road-trip energy tied to a once-in-a-lifetime anniversary, screen-driven destination interest that shifts with whatever show or film just premiered, and a persistent affordability crisis keeping a large minority of the population from booking anything at all. Operators who can specifically target the America250 road-trip audience, the set-jetting fan base chasing a particular show's filming locations, or the still-undecided 53% sitting in the middle of the booking funnel will likely outperform those running undifferentiated summer promotions.
Summer 2026 travel is not one story about optimism or one story about retreat. It is a country simultaneously hitting the road for a 250th birthday celebration, chasing the exact hillside where their favorite film was shot, and, for four in ten households, simply staying home. The businesses that recognize all three audiences exist at once will be the ones that make the most of this unusually fractured season.
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