by Kevin Burton
I don’t know what this story will do for you, but it could save my family a ton of cash.
WalletHub, an online finance company that I had never heard of before last week, ranks Wichita in its top ten of travel destinations.
And Wichita is way up high on the list – number four!
How exciting is this? My dream vacation is within easy driving distance. No airfare, no hotels, no turnpikes.
I already have several Wichita souvenirs, (such as my marriage license), so no need for those either.
We have pretty much made our vacation plans for this year, but they’re not solid, solid. Not set in stone 100 percent.
We could work this in. A travel Mecca in my home county!
I sincerely hope I’m not too late with this news. I hope you can still shape your travel plans accordingly.
“Inflation may be putting a strain on people’s finances, but it’s not dampening their summer plans. In fact, nearly 85 percent of Americans plan to travel this summer, with 44 percent taking more than one trip,” the WalletHub website reads. “The only question is: Where should you go? “
Based on travel costs and associated hassles, local costs, weather, safety, activities and attractions, here is where WalletHub think you should go:
- Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, Georgia Metro Area
- Urban Honolulu, Hawaii Metro Area
- Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metro Area
- Wichita, Kansas Metro Area
- New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA Metro Area
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI Metro Area
- Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida Metro Area
- Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Florida Metro Area
- Richmond, Virginia Metro Area
10 Springfield, Missouri Metro Area
Wichita, just two notches below Honolulu. Who knew? That could even be the new tourism slogan.
“Compared with other rankings that focus on each destination’s scenic quality, this report focuses primarily on the cost and convenience of traveling to each location as well as its affordability. However, it does take into account the number of attractions and variety of activities in each destination to ensure visitors will stay busy and entertained throughout the trip,” the WalletHub website reads.
To find out which places offered the most bang for the buck, “WalletHub developed a ranking of the cheapest U.S. destinations that are also the easiest to reach,” the website reads. “In total, we analyzed 100 of the largest metro areas across 41 key indicators. Our data set ranges from the cost of the cheapest flight to the number of attractions to the average price of a two-person meal.”
Wichita was so high on the list because it was fifth best in safety, sixth in local costs, seventh in travel costs and associated hassles. It was 33rd in weather, but only 91st in activities, 76th in attractions.
Do it’s cheap and easy to get to Wichita, but bring your Scrabble set and euchre cards with you.
After a very quick but thoroughly scientific review of smiling Facebook vacation photos from around the globe, Page 7 has determined that Wichita is not on a lot of travel short lists. So what kind of website would rank Wichita fourth?
Because I had never heard of WalletHub, here’s a little information on them from Wikipedia:
“WalletHub, (formerly CardHub.com) is a personal finance website that was launched in August 2013. It is based in Miami and owned by Evolution Finance, Inc. , according to its Wikipedia page.
“WalletHub offers free consumer tools, such as its WalletLiteracy Quiz and its Financial Fitness Tool, which provides users with credit reports, scores and monitoring,” Wikipedia said.
“The company also successfully overcame a public trademark dispute with Major League Baseball, brought on behalf of the Washington Nationals and Chicago Cubs,” Wikipedia reports, without elaborating.
That’s no big deal, everybody beats the Cubs and Nationals.
“According to Web reports, WalletHub initially positioned itself as a ‘personal finance social network’ with a focus on reviews for financial advisors,” Wikipedia said.
“The company also produces research reports, including a quarterly credit card debt report and reports comparing cities and states in financially relevant categories. For example, in mid-November 2021, a weekly New York Times feature used WalletHub’s data for what The Times t headlined “The Best and Worst Cities For Celebrating Thanksgiving.”
See there? If the paper of record is on to WalletHub who am I to turn up my nose?
Page 7 