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FlightHub’s third annual Unveiled report spotlights the destinations posting the sharpest year-over-year spikes in traveler searches and bookings, alongside a shift in what it costs to fly at home and abroad.

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MONTREAL — FlightHub, a leading North American online travel agency, today announced that its third annual Unveiled report is now live. Drawing on millions of booking, search and pricing data points from FlightHub’s platform, this year’s edition looks at how, when and where North Americans traveled, including which destinations saw the sharpest spikes in traveler interest, how fares shifted across routes, and how booking timing varied among different types of travelers.

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Among this year’s clearest signals: U.S. domestic airfares climbed 49.3% year-over-year, even as long-haul international fares got cheaper, a shift in airline pricing that coincides with more Americans looking abroad for value. Short-haul, domestic and U.S.–Canada transborder routes all got pricier in tandem, while many international routes travelers once considered a splurge became the comparatively better deal.

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“This year, flying across the country simply got more expensive, while flying overseas often got cheaper,” said Henri Chelhot, CEO of FlightHub. “Our data shows domestic and international booking patterns moving in opposite directions this year, and that’s exactly the kind of shift we built Unveiled to catch, so travelers have a clearer picture as they plan their next trip.”

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Domestic Fares Climb While the World Gets Cheaper

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Long-haul international fares trended down year-over-year, while short-haul, domestic and transborder fares rose sharply, led by the 49.3% jump in U.S. domestic pricing. That price gap is already showing up in where Americans choose to fly: the domestic share of U.S. bookings fell 6.4 points year-over-year, as more travelers shifted their trips abroad, likely to take advantage of the now-cheaper international fares.

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Where Americans Are Actually Flying

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Despite the fare pressure, New York, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale remain the most-booked U.S. domestic destinations, but the biggest mover in the rankings is Washington, D.C., which jumped five spots breaking into the domestic top 10 and posted 65.8% year-over-year growth, one of the sharpest gains of any major U.S. market this year. Miami and the Bay Area also climbed two spots each.

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FlightHub’s top U.S. domestic destinations of 2026:

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Among outbound destinations booked by U.S. travelers (a FlightHub ranking category that includes international destinations as well as San Juan, Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory), Tokyo holds the top spot for a second year, while San Juan moved up two spots into the number-two position, fitting, since San Juan also ranks as the single most affordable outbound destination booked from the U.S. this year, at an average of $253 per person. Santo Domingo posted the biggest jump in this same outbound ranking, climbing 28 spots from 36th to 8th.

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FlightHub’s top outbound destinations for U.S. travelers in 2026:

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Fastest-Growing Destinations

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FlightHub’s fastest-growing destinations ranking, which tracks year-over-year booking growth across all destinations, was led by Santo Domingo (+161.8%), Santiago, Chile (+146.4%) and Casablanca (+84%). Washington, D.C. also ranked among the fastest-growing destinations globally, up 65.8%, a rare case of a major U.S. city outgrowing many of the international leisure destinations that typically dominate this list.

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Breakout Destinations

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FlightHub’s separate breakout analysis, which measures which destinations shifted most dramatically from prior patterns, found Casablanca posted the single largest jump of the year, up 249.7%, a shift the report describes as potentially route-driven and tied to new direct air service. Other destinations that broke out organically included Liberia, Costa Rica (+144.9%), Aruba (+117.5%), Da Nang (+117.5%), Punta Cana (+109.1%) and Los Cabos (+91.5%).

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Event-Driven Travel Takes Off

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FlightHub’s data also captured real momentum tied to some of 2026’s biggest live events. Travel to FIFA World Cup host cities grew across the board, though by different measures depending on the market. Kansas City posted the largest year-over-year increase of any North American host city, up 165%, and remained 74% above its own typical travel volume, the strongest lift of any host market measured this way. Vancouver (+34% year-over-year, 23% above its own typical volume) and Toronto (+18% year-over-year, 7% above its own typical volume) also saw meaningful gains. FlightHub found travel built up gradually across the tournament window rather than spiking around individual match days.

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Beyond the World Cup, several other tentpole events drove real travel gains: the Winter Olympics produced the year’s largest year-over-year event-related travel increase, with combined travel to the Milan and Venice region up 243% year-over-year (Milan alone up approximately 247%), while the Canadian Grand Prix in Montréal and Mardi Gras in New Orleans each drove travel well above those cities’ own typical volume (+19.5% and +102.5%, respectively), a real lift even though both events return every year.

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