Where do tourists from Vegas go?

By Brendan Buhler (contact)

Monday, June 5, 2006 | 7:17 a.m.

Everyone knows that Las Vegas is a popular destination for people around the world. But where do we go when we're looking for some time away? We did some digging, and here's what we found.

Las Vegas' Prestige Travel and Cruises American Express

Long distance

Driving

AAA Nevada

Orbitz

Expedia.com (unranked)

Beach vacations

City breaks

Family fun in the fun

Travelocity (for all of the Southwest)

Las Vegans may live in one of the country's favorite places to vacation, but where do we - presumably savvy and inured to tourist traps - take our summer fun?

Somewhere cool, perhaps, or someplace with water?

According to one online travel firm, Orbitz, we go to Chicago.

Chicago? Where the summer air is comparable to a goat's breath: warm, humid and redolent of trash?

Maria Lilibeth Ruiz, marketing director for Las Vegas' Travel and Cruises American Express, doesn't think so:

"When you ask me, I'm thinking of vacation as more of a go and have fun type thing I mean, Chicago, that's usually to visit friends and family. But as a vacation, my goodness, there's so many other places to go."

Of course, Orbitz's list of Las Vegans' travel destinations is not holy writ. Different travel Web sites have different rates and deals in different cities, and online customers often shop among several, says Ed Serrano, who runs the family travel site LasVegasKids.com.

It may be that Las Vegans who want to go to Chicago are choosing Orbitz because it offers cheaper flights there than other sites. And Orbitz's list is only for people traveling by plane.

The folks at AAA Nevada say their list of the top car-trip destinations suggests Las Vegans are a more nature-loving lot, with the Grand Canyon and Zion National Park taking its top two spots.

Because no travel agencies release customer totals, there's no way to combine their lists into one master. At best, they can give snapshots of different sets of Las Vegas travelers.

For instance, Ruiz's agency mainly offers cruises and specializes in marketing to families and retirees. ("But they're active retirees, obviously," she says.)

So her list of the top four long-distance getaways for Las Vegans starts with Hawaiian cruises, followed by Mexican, European and Alaskan cruises. Ruiz says that drivers who book through her agency like California: Disneyland, San Diego or, since the movie "Sideways," the wine countries of either Napa Valley or Santa Barbara.

"You've got a combination of beautiful scenery and, at the same time, drinking wine," she says. "That's more for couples than families, though."

Southern California is also a favorite spot with Serrano's Las Vegas customers. It's close, he says, it has beaches and a large percentage of Las Vegans used to live there.

So maybe the home-sweet-home theory explains Chicago?

Well, not quite. According to the most recent (2004) list of out-of-state driver's licenses exchanged at the DMV, only 4 percent of people migrating to Las Vegas are from Illinois - less than New York, Arizona and Florida.