Cleveland is developing into a tourist destination of its own, but that doesn’t mean folks here don’t want to flee the city every once in a while, especially during June through August.
Jenene Mealey, Director of Outside Sales at Canary Travel, said the top summer vacation spots for their Cleveland area clients are Cancun and the Riviera Maya in Mexico, and the Dominican Republic’s Punta Cana.
“A lot of people will come and ask for all-inclusive, but what they don’t know is there are no all-inclusive [vacations] in the U.S.,” said Mealey.
According to Mealey, families are surprised to find that they don’t have to spend much more money on these tropical trips than they do on domestic ones.
This is not to say that domestic travel is dead; Orlando, Florida (more specifically, Disney World) ranks high among vacation choices for Northeastern Ohioans in the summer. The notoriously pricey theme park offers an array of discounts in its most crowded months, like free dining and lowered room rates.
North Carolina’s Outer Banks and South Carolina’s Hilton Head, 10- and 11-hour drives from Cleveland, respectively, also top the list of destinations.
Mealey said Europe, “in general,” is popular as well — particularly London, Paris and Italy as a whole.
Agent Becky Donaldson of The Travel Connection confirmed these as the top locations, domestic and abroad, and also said it’s America’s lack of all-inclusive vacation spots that pushes people out of the country.
Besides Disney and the Carolinas, when Clevelanders stay in the States, they flock to Michigan for the lakes.
This article appears in Jun 7-13, 2017.
Cleveland is not “developing into a tourist destination”. LOL Fake news! The link is to “This is Cleveland”, not a legit source. Cleveland is a failed city, period. These media people acting like we’re a tourist destination make me laugh. We’re a corrupt, filthy city. Period.
Who pissed in your pool? Cleveland is a lot cleaner than 25 years ago, Bobby. And more people ARE coming here (in the summertime, obviously), because there’s a lot more to do and see and eat than in the past…it’s not just the Rock Hall or the Jake anymore. If this town was thought of as a “failed city”–the RNC would have been in Dallas or Vegas, not here.
Sure, there’s a lot to bitch about when it comes to Cleveland. I do it all the time. Yes, we could be cleaner, and yes, we are corrupt, but so are most good-sized American metropolitan areas. Cleveland is getting better and worse at the same time, depending on where you live, who you are, and how dark your skin happens to be. Do you even live here? For how long? You just like to have a Dawg to kick around.
As for destinations, SCENE left out Nashville and Carbondale, IL…for the total solar eclipse in August. Gonna be a helluva show and a helluva party. Pray for clear skies and no rain. We had to make our reservations a year ago. Now the rates are through the roof.
Only happens once or twice in a lifetime in any given area. I have been waiting for many years to check this event off my bucket list. And my birthday is the same weekend!
Chuckles the Clown