July 4th Travel: Top 20 Fourth Of July Destinations In America

With the Independence Day Weekend coming up fast, people across the country are preparing for the madness of July 4th travel. But the nature of that travel is strikingly different this year than last.

On Tuesday, Priceline.com released its list of the Top 50 Destinations for July 4th, 2010. The most obvious change: last year's #1, New Orleans, fell to 26th on the list, almost certainly due to the oil spill. Another Gulf destination, Destin, FL -- 38th in last year's rankings -- didn't make this year's list.

But Priceline.com spokesman Brian Ek identified another trend in the data, as he told NBC Chicago:

"With the economy forcing many smaller towns to cut back or eliminate their fireworks displays, the beneficiaries are the big cities, like Chicago, Boston, New York City and Washington, DC, that traditionally put on elaborate July 4th events," Ek said.

So which city supplanted New Orleans as the #1 destination this year? Click through the list to find out!