Made in America makes Philadelphia a top destination for Airbnb guests on Labor Day weekend

Philadelphia is the third most popular destination for Airbnb guests this Labor Day weekend. This is largely thanks to the Made in America festival, which returns this year.

Last year, when the pandemic canceled the annual Jay-Z Music Festival on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia failed to make the top 10 spots for guests over the holiday weekend. Many Airbnb customers have stayed away from major cities.

Clients feel more comfortable traveling to urban areas now that more people have been vaccinated.

” LEARN MORE: Made in America is back, with Justin Bieber, Lil Baby and Megan Thee Stallion – plus vaccines and masks

“What we’ve seen from last summer to this summer is that as travel started to come back, consumers were really prioritizing more rural destinations,” said Liz DeBold Fusco, communications manager for North America at Airbnb. “It’s the start of what we see as the shift to people returning to more urban areas again.”

Airbnb customers typically choose mid-sized cities and “getaway” destinations because they feel more comfortable traveling. Consistent with these trends, Anchorage, Alaska, and Kansas City, Mo., are the #1 and #2 cities for Airbnb guests this weekend. After Philadelphia, Mexico City and the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska round out the top five Labor Day weekend destinations.

After the announcement at the end of May that Made in America was coming back to Philadelphiathe number of searches in May and June for Airbnb properties in the city for Labor Day weekend increased by more than 150%.

Organizers expect 50,000 to 60,000 attendees a day for the two-day concert, the biggest music event in Philadelphia since the pandemic began. The festival on Saturday and Sunday will require masks and either a COVID-19 vaccination or a negative test. (The CDC advises unvaccinated people not to travel over Labor Day weekend.)

” LEARN MORE: How will the COVID-19 rules work at Made in America Festival 2021?

Before vaccinations were widely available, many Airbnb guests felt safer outdoors and in nature, so sites that offered them were popular. The share of trips booked in rural areas almost doubled between 2019 and 2020. The top three destinations for Labor Day weekend last year were Hilton Head Island in South Carolina, Big Bear Lake in California and Lake Havasu City in Arizona. Scranton ranked #5 as the only city in Pennsylvania in the top 10.

Beyond holidays, family weekends lasting three to four days increased by 70% in the second quarter of 2021, compared to the same period in 2019.

Ahead of fall, about a third of Airbnb searches are for stays in major cities, with New York, Chicago and Boston topping guest lists. Three out of five long-term stays of 28 nights or more are booked in the cities.