Increasing hotel and food costs and record-setting gasoline prices have made the District the most expensive place in the mainland U.S. for families to visit, according to a AAA survey.
It will cost an average family of four about $518 a day to vacation in the District, which ranks only behind Hawaii, at $559 a day, according to the Annual Vacation Costs survey. The figure includes the daily cost of food, estimated at $159.87 in D.C., and lodging, at $358.05.
“Families will also factor in the cost of gasoline in the nation’s capital, which is ranked for the third day in a row as the most expensive in the continental United States,” said John Townsend II, AAA Mid-Atlantic’s manager of public and government affairs. “That’s a double whammy.”
The average gas price in the District on Tuesday was $2.98 for regular unleaded.
The projections do not take into account the fact that most of thecity’s tourist attractions, including the White House, the U.S. Capitol Building, the U.S. Supreme Court building, monuments, memorials and museums, are free, Townsend said.
The report, based on average projections for entire states, does not include the Washington suburbs, where food, lodging and gasoline tend to be significantly cheaper, in its calculations. For example, the numbers for New York, which ranks fifth on the list, include hotel costs across the state, not just the very expensive New York City.
High costs for holidays
» Other destinations with a high cost: Nevada, $348; Rhode Island, $329; and New York, $329.
» D.C.’s $518 cost is $77 higher per day than last year.
» The national average is $261 per day for food and lodging — an increase of 5.4 percent from last year.
» AAA has been tracking vacation costs since 1950, when the average daily cost of meals and lodgings for a family of four was $13.
