‘Most expensive tourist destination’ in US is located in Colorado, according to report
A recent report from GoBankingRates sought to determine which tourist destinations around the country were the most expensive to visit. A Colorado city ended up snagging the top spot.
In order to produce the ranking, GoBankingRates took a look at 91 cities around the country considered to be ‘top vacation destinations,’ with 55 of those cities having enough data available to be included in the final breakdown. The company used a hypothetical scenario of two adults traveling to a given spot for three nights during a weekend in August, having three meals at a mid-range restaurant, 12 meals at inexpensive restaurants, six beers, and six sodas. Other data related to costs included average airfare at the closest airport to the city, the average cost of the three cheapest hotels within five miles of the city from Hotels.com, and the average cost of goods from Numbeo.
Once the numbers were crunched, Aspen ranked as the most expensive spot to visit in the United States.
The key reason behind Aspen’s chart-topping rank was the cost of airfare into the local airport, priced at $1,341 per couple. This was by far the most expensive airfare among cities included in the ranking, close to double the cost to fly into many other places (granted, Denver was relatively cheap to fly into at $745 and it’s a 3.5-hour drive away). Meanwhile, the total cost of a cheap hotel in the Aspen area was $791 and the cost of all meals was $510. Domestic beer was determined to cost about $7.50 locally, with the total cost of a vacation to Aspen coming in at $2,708.
Elsewhere in the state, Colorado Springs ranked at 34th of 55 with a total vacation cost of $1,621 for a couple. A trip to Denver was determined to be even cheaper, costing $1,526 and ranking 43rd overall. While lodging and beer was determined to be cheaper in Colorado Springs compared to the Mile High City, airfare was more expensive and the cost of eating out was comparable.
The cheapest place to visit in the United States was determined to be Clearwater, Florida, with a total trip cost for a couple of just $998.
Oh – and in case you’re curious, the cheapest beer was found in Branson, Missouri at $3.75 for domestics.
Find the full ranking here.