Denver, CO – Denver continues to grab the nation’s attention, this time by making its debut on AAA’s 2016 Summer Travel Destinations List. Based on AAA bookings for travel from June 1 – August 15, the top ten domestic summer travel destinations include:
- Orlando, Florida (1)
- Seattle, Washington
- Los Angeles/Anaheim, California (7)
- Honolulu, Hawaii (4)
- Las Vegas, Nevada
- Anchorage, Alaska
- New York, New York
- Maui, Hawaii
- San Francisco, California
- Denver, Colorado
(The numbers in parentheses indicate the 2015 rankings).
The AAA report cites low gas prices as a driver for the increase in road trips to new destinations. “Domestically, the great American road trip is back, with nearly 56 percent of Americans planning a drive vacation this summer, according to a recent AAA survey. The lowest summertime gas prices in 11 years are prompting Americans to drive in record numbers.”
Bill Sutherland, AAA senior vice president of travel and publishing, is quoted as saying,”Several 
newcomers to the list indicate that Americans are looking forward to venturing out this summer and exploring diverse destinations from coast to coast.”
The influx of tourism associated with this new top ten ranking for Denver stands to benefit the hospitality, retail and restaurant industries. These markets are already on the rise according to the Downtown Denver Partnership‘s State of Downtown Denver 2016 report.
This report indicates that downtown Denver has 32 hotels with a total of 9,141 hotel rooms and 526,636 square feet of meeting space. The report also notes that developers are taking notice of high occupancy rates and increasing RevPAR enjoyed by Downtown Denver hotels (which have risen almost 30% since 2011). As of spring 2016, four downtown hotels are under construction and three are planned for development.
The State of Downtown Denver 2016 also reports that June is the third top month for retail sales in downtown Denver and that nearly $45 million in sales tax collections was reported for 2015. AAA putting Denver “on the map” as a top summer destination for 2016 could encourage further retail and restaurant development downtown.
Feature image photo credit: Zenhaus (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons
Graphs and infographics are excerpts from 2016 State of Downtown Denver report, courtesy of Downtown Denver Partnership
