Better places to go
Dallas flops on new list of best U.S. summer travel destinations
Maybe a staycation isn't in the future for Dallas locals this summer — at least according to a new report by Forbes Advisor.
The report listed the best and worst cities for summer travel and Dallas did not fare well, coming in as the No. 13 worst summer travel destination in the nation.
The study, published June 1, compared 43 of the most populous U.S. cities across 16 metrics in three major categories: City experience, air travel experience, and driving experience.
Dallas earned an overall score of 57.20 out of a total 100 possible points. At least it beat Jacksonville, Florida which earned a perfect (and dreadful) score of 100 points to solidify itself as the No. 1 worst vacation destination for summer travel.
This is how Forbes breaks down Dallas' ranking across the three key dimensions:
- 37.98 – City experience score
- 50.06 – Air travel experience score
- 70.03 – Driving experience score
"Dallas’ two major airports have the sixth highest number of property loss and damage claims during the summer (1.3 per 100,000 domestic passengers)," the report said. "The city also has the seventh highest number of extreme temperature days in the summer (76 on average)."
Those were enough to sink Dallas as a destination for Americans planning to take a vacation trip.
Go Houston
While Dallas was ranked among the worst summer travel destinations, Houston climbed up to No. 10 on Forbes' ranking of the best summer travel destinations in the country.
"Visitors to Houston enjoy the lowest median hotel price during the summer ($122.33 per night) and the city’s two major airports reimburse the second highest percentage of summer property loss and damage claims in full (52.4 percent on average)," the report said.
San Antonio (No. 20) and Austin (No. 24) also fared better than Dallas in the overall rankings, showing that Central Texas is a far better place to be during the summer when it comes to statewide vacations.
Texas travelers may want to consider going out of state to places like Minneapolis, Minnesota, which was ranked the No. 1 best summer travel destination in the U.S.
The top 10 best U.S. summer travel destinations are:
- No. 1 – Minneapolis, Minnesota
- No. 2 – Long Beach, California
- No. 3 – Washington, D.C.
- No. 4 – Seattle, Washington
- No. 5 – Omaha, Nebraska
- No. 6 – San Diego, California
- No. 7 – San Francisco, California
- No. 8 – Columbus, Ohio
- No. 9 – Chicago, Illinois
- No. 10 – Houston, Texas