When Arkansans choose to travel out of the state it seems their favorite spots are close to home, looking for fun and getting cooler.
BetArkansas.com took a break from covering Arkansas sports betting and utilized Google Trends to determine the most searched cities by each state using the term “Flights To” and finding the most often searched city at the end of the phrase.
After completing the trends over the past 12 months (from June 25, 2022, to June 25, 2023), we were able to find the top three cities for the state of Arkansas. Please note cities within the state were not included.
Arkansas’ Favorite Cities to Visit
Arkansas Residents First Choice is Close to Home
The three places Arkansans look for flights the most are to Dallas, Las Vegas and Denver. The drive to Dallas isn’t that long from most of the state, but there are plenty of options from the state’s airports for the 80 to 100-minute flight to the Lone Star State.
There are 22 non-stop flights from Little Rock every day with American and Southwest airlines. Since Fayetteville is such a big hub for Arkansas business, the airport there has 18 non-stop flights on American to Dallas, but the price will be a little higher. United and Delta also service the Fayetteville airport, but they don’t have any direct flights to Dallas. Fort Smith has nine non-stop flights with American.
Since Hot Springs is such a tourism hotbed, it has three non-stop flights per day to Dallas. So when it’s time to visit the Sixth Floor Museum, the George W. Bush Presidential Library, the Dallas Museum of Art or if you're just heading to Dallas on business, you have options.
If you’re looking to book that fun trip to Las Vegas, you’ve got a lot fewer non-stop choices from Arkansas. There’s only one daily non-stop from Little Rock on Frontier and one from Fayetteville on Allegiant, as most of the flights to Las Vegas include stops in Dallas or Atlanta.
Since betting on sports is legal and Arkansas sportsbook promos are available through state casinos, it’s not necessary to travel all the way to Las Vegas to place wagers. That might explain why there’s not a need for quick access to the betting capital of the country.
When it’s time to plan that ski trip or just escape the summer heat for Denver’s 61-degree July nights, you’ve got more options than getting to Las Vegas. It’s a little easier to find non-stop flights to Denver, as Little Rock has nine non-stop flights and Fayetteville has seven.
Wherever Arkansans are flying, the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport in Little Rock offers the lowest prices. You’ll pay a little more to fly out of Fayetteville, Fort Smith or any of the other smaller airports in the state.
No matter the reason for getting away, be it business or pleasure, Arkansans have plenty of choices when it comes to leaving the state for a getaway.
Author
Douglas Pils has been a sports journalist for 30 years in Texas, Arkansas and New York having worked for the San Antonio Express-News, the Associated Press, The Dallas Morning News and Newsday. He most recently ran the Student Media Department at Texas A&M for eight years.
