Europe Continues to Lure American Travelers with a 34% Jump in Americans Headed Across the Pond This Summer

Nice, France, Makes Its Debut in the Top 10, but London Remains the Crown Jewel

The calendar may say spring, but summer travel is already sizzling with Americans keen to book getaways to the European continent. According to travel insurance provider Allianz Partners' annual Top 10 Summer European Destinations review, the number of Americans traveling to Europe will increase significantly again, climbing 34% over last year's popular travel season.

Analyzing flight itineraries* for trips of five to eight days in length between Memorial Day and Labor Day, the travel protection and assistance company confirmed London, England, holds on to the top position with nearly double the bookings of Paris, France (#2). Dublin, Ireland (#3), again rounds out the top three most-popular vacation spots on the continent with the trio hosting a variety of top international sports and music events this year.

For the first time since the survey began in 2015, the spectacular beaches of Nice, France, help it debut a Top 10 recognition as Barcelona, Spain, regains its position (#8) after being bumped last year. Together, they displace Milan, Italy, and Lisbon, Portugal, from the annual rankings. Other perennial favorites jockey for position in the middle of the roster with Edinburgh, Scotland (#4), and Amsterdam, Netherlands (#6), each laddering up two positions respectively. Rome, Italy (#5), slipped one slot while Reykjyavik, Iceland (#7), and Athens, Greece (#9), each fall two positions in 2024.

"Following the pandemic, Europe has been a top summer destination for Americans," said Daniel Durazo, director of external communications at Allianz Partners USA. "Since transcontinental travel typically requires a more substantial budget to cover the flights, hotels and tours that combine for a memorable trip, the right travel insurance plan becomes even more valuable to protect against covered losses resulting from trip cancellations, interruptions, delays and medical emergencies that are sometimes an unexpected byproduct of vacation planning."

*Methodology: The data of U.S. travelers' 2024 Summer Travel plans was gathered by analyzing the number of customers that went through the online booking process of airfare and package paths for partners offering Allianz Global Assistance travel insurance to generate itineraries for roundtrip flights departing from U.S. airports from 5/24/2024 –9/3/2024, for trips between 5 and 8 days in length. In total, over 6M itineraries were analyzed using this methodology.