As eager vacationers prep for their Memorial Day weekend, some of you may still be deciding on a last-minute sunny destination. And since there’s no shortage of these across the U.S., why not let us do the work for you as we break down some of the prime locations as mentioned in online news.
We used our media monitoring and analysis software to analyze 35 of the top beach areas in the U.S. from May 1 – 27, encompassing areas all across the country. The results? When it comes to generating buzz for the long weekend Cape Cod is at the top of the list, while resort locales like Myrtle Beach and Coronado made their presence known.
Cape Cod, Massachusetts was the top mentioned area amongst all 35 analyzed. Its unique geographical setting of being made up of 15 different towns, all with their own beaches and tourism draws, helped drive the amount of content collected. As Cape Cod is a major tourism destination, it is no surprise that a significant portion of its coverage came from associated attractions, including seafood (6% per cent of Cape Cod mentions) (more specifically clams (4%)), as well as offering free admission for several attractions over the weekend (5%).
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina is our next stop. Technically aman-made island, this resort area was good for second-most mentions. Ten per cent of content actually mentioned the specific beaches in the area (not to be confused with “Beach”, as in “Myrtle Beach”). A significant portion of the coverage (15%) came from the coverage of Myrtle Beach’s Bike Week, where the ten-day motorcycle festival will peak over the Memorial Day weekend.
Coronado, California, and its surrounding Coronado Island Beaches was good for third place amongst all areas. While 25% of its content directly mentioned the beaches, 15% of content mentioned at least one of the three major resorts in the area: Hotel del Coronado, Coronado Island Marriott, and the Loews Coronado Bay Resort.
It’s no surprise that South Beach in Miami, Florida made the top five. Thirty per cent of its content mentioned the hotels and new resorts being constructed in the area, including an announcement in the past week that the international Iberostar resort chain will open a new location there.
Laguna Beach, California, rounded out the top five locales. And while this slightly skews the numbers, many mentions were largely due to coverage surrounding the reality television shows Laguna Beach and associated spin-off The Hills (30%), as former member of those shows Lauren Conrad announced the possibility of a new show close to the 10-year anniversary of the initial shows. Ten per cent of its coverage also focused on the well-known surfing culture of the area, with several events taking place.
So as we enter the long weekend in the U.S., it seems there are plenty of sunny beach-side locations to take in. Your only problem? Choosing just one…or maybe a few.
