Charlotte is among the top travel destinations, Tripadvisor says. Here’s why
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- Tripadvisor ranked Charlotte among top five trending domestic locations in an analysis.
- Fifty-four percent of visitors come to Charlotte to visit loved ones.
- Charlotte draws about 33 million visitors annually, according to CRVA.
The travel guidance platform Tripadvisor ranked Charlotte among the top five trending domestic locations in a recent year over year analysis for its summer travel index.
The other four trending domestic locations are Orlando, Longboat Key, Pensacola Beach and Baltimore. No North Carolina destinations made the list’s top 10 domestic destinations for U.S. travelers.
Tripadvisor also listed Asheville as a top destination in 2026, ranking the town No. 22 in the platform’s Travelers’ Choice Awards “Best of the Best” list, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.
Why are so many people traveling to Charlotte?
Charlotte is the sixth-fastest growing city in the United States and fourteenth largest in the country, according to Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority Chief Brand and Strategy Officer Laura White.
White said that Charlotte draws 33 million visitors yearly.
“If you took Charleston and Asheville’s (travel numbers) and combined them, they still wouldn’t touch the 33 million in visitation that we see annually,” White said. “I think that tends to surprise most folks to know that we see that amount of visitor volume.”
Three of the locations on the trending domestic vacations list are Floridian vacation destinations. Charlotte draws a different breakdown of travelers.
There are three major segments of visitors driving Charlotte tourism:
1. Friends and family
White said 54% of visitors are here to visit their loved ones. About 155 new people move to Charlotte each day, and their family follows.
“Whether it’s their mom, their dad, their best friend from college, whoever it is, they’re going to come visit them naturally,” White said. “That’s where we see this steady kind of pattern of visiting friends and relatives really being a primary visitation driver.” White said that Charlotte, Baltimore and Orlando likely pull higher proportions of friends and family than the coastal locations that people may visit primarily for things to do.
2. Bankers
The Queen City is a banking town, and the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority’s data shows that 13% of visitors are here for business.
Bank of America and Wells Fargo both have major operations in the city, continuing a long history of banking.
3. Vacationers
A third of travelers are here for fun.
”They’re usually anchoring into a primary reason to visit, whether it’s a Panthers playoff game or a concert at Bojangles Coliseum, let’s say, or a festival, or some type of happening that they can’t experience in their own destination — and they’re building an itinerary around it,” White said. “You’re going to come in for that concert or that festival, you’re going to make a couple of dinner reservations, you’re going to maybe go to breweries, check out an attraction, and so you have this well-rounded visit that takes place.
These travelers are most often in Charlotte on the weekends.
