NORWALK, Conn., Feb. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- . . . Sun, sand and water seem to be the themes for Presidents' Week 2012, according to priceline.com (Nasdaq: PCLN). Today, priceline.com released its list of the Top 50 Destinations for the upcoming holiday period (Presidents' Day is February 20th).

The Las Vegas Strip is the #1 destination for the long weekend and holiday week. Other big winners are Florida, which occupied 16 places on the list and Orlando, which was chosen five times. Hawaiian cities appeared three times. Overall, beach destinations took 16 of the top 50 spots.

To compile its Top 50 list, priceline.com looked at a sampling of thousands of Name Your Own Price® hotel room booking requests made by priceline.com customers for the long weekend and week. Since the priceline.com study is based on actual booking requests, and not on consumer preference polls or votes, priceline.com believes the study is one of the more accurate predictors of future travel trends.

Travelers may have been encouraged by the consumer-friendly Presidents' Week airfares. The average airfare for the week is $371, which is up only 1.2% over last year, according to priceline.com in-house travel Ekspert Brian Ek. Travelers headed to the Big Easy for Mardi Gras (February 21) should take note - the average airfare to New Orleans is up a whopping 31% compared to a year ago.

Priceline.com said that travelers can still make hotel, airline, rental car and vacation package reservations on priceline.com for the upcoming week and weekend. Travelers can also take advantage of priceline.com's Winter Hotel Sale that runs through February 20th. Stays at sale hotels must be completed by December 31, 2012. For more information on the sale, visit http://pcln.com/wintersale.

Priceline's Presidents' Week Top 50 Destinations

#1 Las Vegas, Strip North
#2 San Diego, Downtown & Harbor Island
#3 Austin, Downtown
#4 New York City, Midtown West
#5 Los Angeles, Santa Monica & Marina Del Rey
#6 Orange County, Disneyland/Anaheim North
#7 New Orleans, French Quarter
#8 Oahu, Waikiki Beach Area
#9 Las Vegas, Strip Vicinity South
#10 Orlando, Downtown Disney/Lake Buena Vista
#11 Los Angeles, Downtown Area
#12 Scottsdale
#13 Miami, Downtown
#14 San Francisco, Fisherman's Wharf
#15 Chicago, North Michigan Avenue/River North
#16 Atlanta, Downtown
#17 Atlanta, Buckhead Area
#18 Portland, Downtown
#19 Orlando, Sea World/International Drive/Convention Center
#20 Maui, Ka'anapali/Lahaina
#21 Ft. Lauderdale, Beach Area
#22 New York City, Times Square/Theater District
#23 Ft. Lauderdale, Hollywood
#24 Key West
#25 Orlando, Universal Orlando Resort Area/International Drive North
#26 Orlando, Downtown
#27 New York City, Midtown East
#28 Savannah, Historic Savannah & Riverfront
#29 Baltimore, Inner Harbor Area/Downtown
#30 Edmonton
#31 Indianapolis, Downtown
#32 New York City, Upper East Side
#33 Ft. Lauderdale, Airport Area
#34 Orlando, Kissimmee
#35 San Francisco, Union Square East
#36 San Juan
#37 North Scottsdale
#38 Miami, South Beach/Collins Avenue Oceanfront
#39 Ft. Lauderdale, Pompano Beach
#40 Miami, North Miami Beach
#41 St. Petersburg, Clearwater
#42 Louisville, Downtown
#43 San Antonio, Riverwalk Area
#44 Miami, Coral Gables/Coconut Grove
#45 Miami, Miami Beach
#46 Phoenix, Airport Area
#47 Charleston, Downtown
#48 Houston, Galleria Area
#49 Ottawa
#50 Oahu, Executive Center Area

About The Priceline Group
The Priceline Group (Nasdaq: PCLN) is a leader in global online hotel reservations, with over 200,000 participating hotels worldwide. The Group is composed of four primary brands - Booking.com, priceline.com, Agoda.com and TravelJigsaw - and several ancillary brands. The Priceline Group provides online travel services in over 140 countries in Europe, North America, South America, the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East and Africa.

Booking.com is the number one online hotel reservation service in the world, offering over 170,000 hotels (as of November 7, 2011), and is available in 41 languages. More recent hotel counts are available on the Booking.com website. Priceline.com gives leisure travelers multiple ways to save on their airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, vacation packages and cruises. In addition to getting compelling published prices, travelers can take advantage of priceline.com's famous Name Your Own Price® service, which can deliver the lowest prices available. Agoda.com is an Asia-based online hotel reservation service that is available in 37 languages. TravelJigsaw is a multinational car hire service, offering its reservation services in over 4,000 locations. Customer support is provided in 29 languages.

SOURCE Priceline.com