Washington, D.C. is the fourth in the list of priciest destinations for traveling executives, according to management consultant ECA International, which surveyed cities across the globe to find out the priciest places for business travel.
In 2018, New York took the top spot and Washington, D.C. was ranked eights. These were the only two U.S. cities that made it to the list.
This year, the District moved up to number four in its rank. New entries, Los Angeles and San Francisco, placed ninth and seventh respectively.
“U.S. cities — the dollar’s being doing quite well — have moved towards the top of the list. There’s high demand there,” said Qasim Sarwar, ECA’s benefits and daily rates analyst.
Sarwar told CNN Travel that the ranking, apart from the high cost of living, also shows the way tourism and business work together.
He said that in Reykjavik, Iceland, for example, “Hotel occupancy rates have been improving with less supply — and demand is high there. So hotel prices have increased and that’s a big part of the daily rate allowance.”
ECA ranking also looked at average prices for four-star hotels and included other factors, such as transport, taxis, and meals.
“Some of the ones that have dropped out of the top 10 [were ones] we expected, just given the market itself year on year. These cities and locations follow trends,” said Sarwar.
The top five cities in the ECA’s list of the priciest destinations for traveling executives were New York ($799), Geneva ($716), Zurich ($661), Washington, D.C. ($621) and Paris ($617). Other five cities that made it to the list were Reykjavik ($615), San Francisco ( $581), Basel ($579), Los Angeles ($578), and Bern ($576).
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