SUMMERTIME blues
Houston scores surprise spot in new ranking of top summer travel destinations for 2023
Destinations like Memorial Park didn't seem to move the needle.
We now know that Houston has seen one of the biggest gains in new residents in the U.S. But how high does the rest of the nation rank our fair city as a place to visit?
Perhaps not as high as we may think, per a new list of the best places to visit in the summer. Houston comes in at a surprising No. 38 out of 100 of the largest metro areas in America, according to the 2023 edition of WalletHub’s report.
The report compared the cities across 41 metrics, including number of attractions.
Taking the top spot in Texas San Antonio at No. 11, with Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown at No. 14. Behind Austin and San Antonio in the 2023 rankings is El Paso (No. 18), Houston (No. 38), Dallas-Fort Worth (No. 45), Corpus Christi (No. 62), and McAllen (No. 86).
Dr. Susan Weidmann, assistant professor in the department of recreational management and physical education at Appalachian State University, said in the report that summer 2023 is going to be a “good season for travel” despite recent economic downturns that have many worried about a recession.
“Coming out of Covid, I think many people have taken these last few years to really evaluate what they want out of life, and for those that love travel, I think they have probably put it at the top of their list of things to do,” she said. “As far as economics are concerned, many may have saved their traveling money from the last multiple years, so will have money to spend. That being said, after the airline chaos of last year, many people may be thinking about domestic travel over the long-haul, just to alleviate many of the concerns that airlines, especially in Europe, are still grappling with, such as reduced staffing leading to flight cancellations.”
Dr. Weidmann predicts the time period between July and early August will be the most popular season for National Parks, like Texas’ Big Bend and Guadalupe Mountains.
Despite none of them being in Texas, the top 10 destinations in WalletHub’s report are all popular cities worth a glance in sun-friendly states like Hawaii, New York, and Florida.
The top 10 best summer destinations are:
- No. 1 – Atlanta
- No. 2 – Honolulu, Hawaii
- No. 3 – Washington, D.C.
- No. 4 – Wichita, Kansas
- No. 5 – New York City
- No. 6 – Chicago
- No. 7 – Tampa, Florida
- No. 8 – Orlando, Florida
- No. 9 – Richmond, Virginia
- No. 10 – Springfield, Missouri
The full report can be found on WalletHub’s website.
