PITTSBURGH — All hail Mickey Mouse. According to AAA, the No. 1 destination for Pittsburgh travelers remains Orlando, Florida, the home of Walt Disney World.
“That is followed by Las Vegas, Jamaica, Italy and Ireland,” said Ida D’Errico, producer of the Pittsburgh Travel Showcase presented by AAA Travel.
That information was shared on the final day of the recent three-day event at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, the only convention of its kind in the region. The convention concluded with lighter turnout than it has had in prepandemic years, but with an enthusiastic — and hopeful — crowd nonetheless.
As summer vacations are being planned, the showcase is looking to satisfy a pent-up demand for travel. But the convention also looked to promote the use of travel agents, which the industry says have become increasingly important as travelers — facing ever-changing COVID-19 restrictions and regulations domestically and internationally — need help getting to their destinations. If a trip is delayed or canceled, agents handle the stress of rebooking.
“We have our AAA travel agents here as well as more than 70 vendors, so it’s basically one-stop shopping,” D’Errico said. “The show itself is much smaller than it was in 2019, but the difference is the people who come here are buyers. Many know where they want to go and they want to book it now for the exclusive discounts.”
Linda Meredith, of Baldwin, and her sister-in-law Sandy Gregg, of McMurray, were interested in rail tours to the Rocky Mountains, Canada and along the Pacific Highway.
“We were also interested in cruise ships to Alaska,” added Meredith, who said they had not stopped traveling during the pandemic but did a little less of it.
“I wasn’t going to have it stop me from living,” Gregg said. “You just be careful and do as much as you can do.”
They were among a majority of travelers in our region who have a renewed interest in visiting the national parks, Alaska and the U.S. in general.
“The interest in seeing Alaska by rail has been overwhelming,” Alaska Railroad’s Tracy Zadra said.
The Grand Canyon Railway & Hotel, Rocky Mountaineer and Amtrak Vacations were all represented at the showcase and reported numerous inquirers.
“People really want to come to Alaska and have the experience of being out in remote wilderness areas, and the Alaska Railroad is just a great opportunity for them to do that,” Zadra said.
“We are seeing a lot of interest in travel mainly in the USA,” she said.
Jim Marini of Amtrak Vacations agreed.
“Interest has absolutely increased because of all the restrictions and guidelines especially with the cruise lines and international travel,” he said.
He said Amtrak is seeing an increase in travel throughout the continental U.S. and Alaska.
As for the cruise lines, they are seeing a rebound in travelers, as well.
“Since June, we have sailed with 1.1 million passengers, and we don’t even have all our ships in the water yet,” Royal Caribbean International’s Charlie Kudla said. “We are booking very heavily.”
She said the interest is strong despite unfavorable attention being directed at cruise ships during the pandemic.
“I think the media has been more negative toward the cruise industry, but we are one of the safest ways to travel with vaccination requirements for all on board,” Kudla said.
As with rail travel, she said Alaska was a hot destination for cruise passengers.
“We had our Alaska cruise specialist here doing a presentation and we were swamped. People were booking Alaska, Alaska, Alaska,” she said.
Not everyone is staying stateside.
Sandy and Larry Alway decided it was time to start making international travel plans.
“COVID did stop us from traveling, but we are getting braver now that we are vaccinated,” Sandy Alway. The couple were looking into visiting Europe, Italy in particular.
“The travel industry in general is definitely rebounding,” D’Errico, the travel showcase producer, said.
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