America's Top Up-And-Coming Travel Destination Of 2026 Outshines Key West And Myrtle Beach

A recent study of the popular American travel destinations most likely to see growth has been revealed, and you might be surprised at the city that came out on top. It's not a beach town in Florida or a mountainous retreat in the Rockies. No, it's the resort town of Hot Springs, Arkansas, whose naturally-occurring springs have been soothing guests for centuries.

According to Travel+Leisure, the upholstery supplier Top Fabric looked at the data to see which small American cities are on the verge of leveling up their tourism game. The goal is to measure growth potential, identifying which of these towns is most in need of building new hotels and attractions. The field consisted of 56 locations with under 100,000 residents who were all given a score out of 10 based on the following criteria: how many tourists it welcomes each year (per 1,000 residents); how many hotels and attractions are in the town (per 1,000 tourists); the amount of monthly online searches for hotels around each town; and what the average hotel room costs per night. That info was all factored into the cities' New Hotel Potential Score, and the top spot was claimed by Hot Springs. Key West came in second, with Myrtle Beach as number three.

Hot Springs, of course, has long been popular for rest and relaxation. Indigenous tribes of the region made use of the area's bubbling pools of warm water well before Europeans arrived, and Americans turned it into a health resort not long after the Louisiana Purchase. It was recognized as Hot Springs Reservation by Congress in the 1830s, and it became a national park in the 1920s. The popularity of public bathhouses waned in the second half of the 20th century, but Hot Springs remained popular with tourists. Today it's a thriving vacation town that's potentially on the cusp of some significant growth.

These springs remain hot, with over 9 million visitors a year to the town. Although Arkansas has four heritage trails, it's home to only one national park, and it's right here. Hot Springs National Park remains one of the most popular attractions in the town, drawing over 2 million visitors itself annually. It's also one of America's most unique national parks and home to Hot Springs Mountain Trail, with hidden thermal springs. Those guests come to enjoy the scenic beauty of the Ouachita Mountains from viewpoints like Goat Rock Overlook and to admire the gorgeous architecture of the grand bathhouses on Bathhouse Row. The more adventurous visitors might take a bath just as travelers did in the 1800s at Buckstaff Bathhouse, the last traditional bathhouse still in operation, where you can soak in thermal mineral waters and get a Swedish massage.

If you want a glimpse inside one of the bathhouses but don't want a treatment, visit the Fordyce Bathhouse Museum, which doubles as the Hot Springs National Park Visitor Center. The 1915 building closed in 1962 but was restored back to its peak splendor in 1989. It's now a self-guided museum in honor of these bygone health palaces, with guided tours available if you schedule in advance.

In town you can shop at a number of cool stores, finding cute men's grooming supplies at Dapper & Debonair or gifts at Bathhouse Row Emporium, run by the National Park Service. Hot Springs was a major mob town until the '60s, and you can learn about that sordid legacy at The Gangster Museum of America, which recreates the days when gambling was legal in Hot Springs. And if you're worried about finding a place to stay — after all, it was a shortage of hotel rooms that put it at number one on Top Fabric's list — don't. Whether it's the charming boutique Lookout Point Lakeside Inn (one of Tripadvisor's best small and boutique hotels in America) or more affordable family-friendly options like the Comfort Suites, Embassy Suites, or Courtyard by Marriott, there are enough rooms to go around if you plan in advance. If you really want to understand why Hot Springs is set to explode, all you have to do is check it out in person.