Costa Rica Named the Most In-demand Luxury Destination

Who doesn’t love living in the lap of luxury, even if it’s just for vacation? Apparently, we all do because searches for “luxury travel” destinations are way up, and Renty, a luxury car rental company, knows exactly where the jet-set crowd needs to go next. 

In May, the company shared the results of its new study showcasing the most in-demand locations for a luxury vacation with Travel + Leisure via email. It came to its conclusion of which destinations rank at the top by using Google Keyword Planner to determine the average monthly search volume over the past 12 months for terms related to luxury locations, including “[destination] vacation,” “[destination] travel,” “[destination] itinerary,” and “Visit [destination].” It then took the total number of average monthly searches for each term to determine the rankings. And after parsing through all that data, it named Costa Rica the most in demand. 

“Costa Rica ranks at the top, with an average monthly search volume of 34,248,” the findings revealed. According to the data, the highest average search volume came from California, with 4,712.50 searches, followed by Florida at 2,984.17 and Texas at 2,660.83.  

However, Costa Rica’s ranking is really no surprise to us. After all, T+L loves the Central American nation so much that we named it the 2024 Destination of the Year, thanks to its gorgeous beaches, lush rainforests, and a pura vida lifestyle that can’t be matched anywhere else. 

Costa Rica was followed closely by Hawaii in second, with an average monthly search volume of 32,278, and was the most searched luxury vacation location in 20 states, with the highest number of searches coming from Washington. It was followed by Bali in third, with 27,331 average monthly searches in the U.S., with the most searches coming from Texas. 

“The top ranking highlights a variety of stunning vacation spots in all corners of the globe,” Yevhen Parokhod, co-founder of Renty, said in a statement. However, it’s clear that the U.S. dreams more about sunshine, beaches, and bubbling cities than white powdered slopes and other wintery experiences, given that many tropical destinations like Bali and Hawaii have made the ranking.” 

These destinations were joined by the Maldives in fourth, followed by Thailand, New York City, Paris, Dubai, Los Angeles, and Fiji rounding out the top 10. But again, Costa Rica is still No. 1, and you should start plotting your next vacation to Costa Rica — luxury or otherwise — here.