Blue Ridge a top ten US travel destination in 2008?
According to tripadvisor.com’s “TravelCast”, Blue Ridge, GA comes in at number five for the top ten travel destinations in the US in ‘08:
TripAdvisor TravelCast Top Ten U.S. Destinations for 2008
1. Sunny Isles Beach, Florida
2. Kitty Hawk (Outer Banks), North Carolina
3. Seward, Alaska
4. Kailua, Hawaii
5. Blue Ridge, Georgia
6. Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania
7. San Marcos, Texas
8. Paso Robles, California
9. Rockport, Texas
10. Copper Mountain, Colorado
It should be noted that these results were determined by an automated algorithm that monitors traffic and chatter on tripadvisor.com:
TripAdvisor™ TravelCast is a barometer of what’s hot in travel destinations. TripAdvisor engineers have developed a proprietary algorithm that looks at several criteria including changes in search activity and postings throughout the world’s largest travel community, http://www.tripadvisor.com/. The TravelCast then predicts the rising stars in travel. link to article
I think their algo might need a little tweaking; we’re potentially going to draw in more folks than Copper Mountain Ski Resort? Wow. Nonetheless, a lot of people are talking good (hopefully the algo’s not looking for just any chatter) about BR over at tripadvisor.com.
Kip,
I have to agree with you on the algorithm. I am visiting Breckenridge (down the road from Copper Mtn.). Breckenridge is a town with a permanent population about 3 times the size of Blue Ridge but they receive about 15,000 visitors a day in the winter and about half of that in the summer. They have very tight zoning and building codes to keep the small town charm and they enforce them.
Breck also has about 75 independently owned restaurants that serve beer, wine and liquor. No franchises here. No Walmart. No Home Depot.