healthmedicinet

Denver, Colo. is a well-known tourist destination — its close proximity to some of the most beautiful mountains in the world make the Mile High City an obvious winter vacation choice. But there’s a new high that appears to have captured some tourists’ interest in the city: the state’s newly legalized recreational marijuana.

A recent study from travel planning engine Hopper.com, suggests just that — people from around the U.S. are searching for flights to Denver much more than they used to and the spike began just as the state’s new retail marijuana laws went into effect on Jan. 1. The perceived demand in travel to Denver is represented by the number of search queries by travelers, not by actual ticket purchases.

Hopper’s data shows that flight search demand for Denver as a destination has been up at least 10 percent for each of the first three weeks of January, peaking at a 14 percent increase during the first week of the new year. Last year, during the same period, flight search demand to Denver tracked at or below the national average.

“We can never say categorically about what’s causing the surge in Denver interest among travelers,” Hopper’s chief data scientist, Patrick Surry told The Huffington Post. “But what we can do is we can look at what the patterns are in the data and how those stack up against other theories.”

Surry looked at two major factors in ruling out other popular reasons to seek Denver out as a destination since the legalization of marijuana: Broncos football games and skiing, both a draw to Denver in the early months of the year. But Surry said that in both of the Broncos’ playoff opponents’ cities — Boston and San Diego — neither showed above average demand for Denver flights and could be likely ruled out as a major factor.

In order to rule out skiing as a major factor that could lead to more travel searches for Denver, Surry looked at similar destination airports in Albuquerque, N.M., Salt Lake City, Ut., and Jackson Hole, Wyo. for their trends. Like Denver, Albuquerque had similar demands to the Mile High City last year but the ski-centric Jackson Hole area had an increase in demand for winter, but starting earlier in November and December, not a sudden rush on January 1.

The interest in flights to Denver appears to also correlate with stricter drug laws in other regions in the U.S.

“The origins that had the biggest increases cluster are in the Midwest and the South — places like Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Omaha, Kansas City, Nashville and then you have Houston and Tampa,” Surry said. Places like Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas and Florida — where Surry saw an increase in interest to travel to Denver — do not have any laws legalizing marijuana for medical or recreational use.

“The largest increase was actually from Nashville,” Surry said. “It was 63 percent over what was going on nationwide — and then Minneapolis was second largest.” Minnesota and Nebraska both have marijuana decriminalization laws on the books, but nothing close to the broad legalization that Colorado now enjoys. “None of the states that already have medical use or recreational use seem to be in the top ten in flight searches to Denver,” Surry said.

On New Years Day, dispensaries in Colorado became the first in the U.S. to legally sell recreational marijuana to adults 21-and-over leading to sales of over $5 million in just the first week alone.

“The news media made a big deal this year, there was a huge amount of coverage and from my perspective a lot of this is speculative demand of people saying ‘Hey, that sounds interesting, what would it take for me to get there,’” Surry added. “So it makes sense that we’d see this increased interest in the possibility of flying there.”

Also on HuffPost:

Loading Slideshow

• 50: Snoop Lion

  a href=”http://www.esquire.com/features/what-ive-learned/snoop-dogg-0708? target=”_blank”“It makes me feel the way I need to feel.”/a

• 49: Rick Steves

  a href=”http://www.laweekly.com/2012-04-12/art-books/rick-steves-pot-marijuana-advocate/” target=”_blank””I have used cannabis all over the world.”/a

• 48: Oliver Stone

  a href=”http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/06/29/oliver-stone-marijuana-saved-me-from-becoming-a-beast-in-vietnam/” target=”_blank”“I went to Vietnam, and I was there for a long time. [Using marijuana] made the difference between staying human or, as Michael Douglas said, becoming a beast.”/a

• 47: Rihanna

  a href=”http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2087637/Rihanna-smoking-weed-Hawaii-Singer-posts-cannabis-quote-Twitter.html” target=”_blank””Kush rolled, glass full… I prefer the better things!”/a

• 46: Hugh Hefner

  a href=”http://www.druglibrary.org/special/anderson/highinamerica8.htm” target=”_blank”“Smoking helped put me in touch with the realm of the senses.”/a

• 45: Miley Cyrus

  a href=”http://articles.latimes.com/2011/nov/28/news/la-heb-miley-cyrus-marijuana-health-20111128? target=”_blank””You know you’re a stoner when your friends make you a Bob Marley cake.”/a

• 44: Bryan Cranston

  a href=”http://business.highbeam.com/137462/article-1G1-266750728/bryan-cranston-breaking-bad-intriguing-drug-kingpin” target=”_blank””Pot always just made me sleepy.” /a

• 43: Robert Downey Jr

  a href=”http://www.nbcnewyork.com/entertainment/celebrity/Downey-Jr-Dishes-to-Rolling-Stone–92440874.html” target=”_blank”“Robert Downey Jr. said he started smoking weed at age 8.”/a

• 42: Madonna

  a href=”http://www.vulture.com/2009/10/madonna_on_letterman.html” target=”_blank””It [my behavior on the show in 1994] wasn’t because I was excited about you [David Letterman]. I think it may have had something to do with the joint I smoked before I came on.”/a

• 41: Johnny Depp

  a href=”http://www.celebstoner.com/201201199489/celebstoners/top-celebstoners/johnny-depp.html” target=”_blank””I’m not a great pothead or anything like that… but weed is much, much less dangerous than alcohol.”/a

• 40: Phil Jackson

  In 1975 he wrote “Maverick,” a memoir about his days playing in the NBA. Among other things, Jackson spoke frankly about marijuana use. — a href=”http://www.salon.com/2001/05/29/jackson_16/” target=”_blank”Salon/a

• 39: Sarah Palin

  a href=”http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/08/29/politics/politico/thecrypt/main4397109.shtml” target=”_blank””I can’t claim a Bill Clinton and say that I never inhaled.”/a

• 38: Justin Bieber

  “Bieber both confirmed that he’d been caught smoking weed and apologized for it.” — a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/10/justin-bieber-apologizes-smoking-weed_n_2657314.html” target=”_blank”Huffington Post/a

• 37: Maya Angelou

  a href=”http://www.amazon.com/Angelou-Blooms-BioCritiques-Cindy-Dyson/dp/0791061779? target=”_blank”“Angelou settled into a job as a waitress and began smoking marijuana with abandon.”/a

• 36: Lincoln Chafee

  a href=”http://news.providencejournal.com/politics/2012/03/chafee-declines-to-state-views-on-marijuana-decriminalizationreadynens-to-h.html” target=”_blank””In 1999, then-Warwick Mayor Lincoln D. Chafee won accolades for his honesty in acknowledging he used marijuana and cocaine as a 1970s student at Brown University.”/a

• 35: Matt Damon

  a href=”http://weedquotes.blogspot.com/2011/05/matt-damon-weed-quotes.html” target=”_blank”“The first time I smoked was at home with my mother and step-father.”/a

• 34: Conan O’Brien

  a href=”http://www.pinkisthenewblog.com/2010-11-05/conan-obrien-talks-to-playboy-magazine” target=”_blank”“I’ve tried pot, but it doesn’t do much for me.”/a

• 33: Susan Sarandon

  a href=”http://articles.latimes.com/1992-08-30/entertainment/ca-8213_1_susan-sarandon/2? target=”_blank””Cocaine didn’t interest me. Not at all. I’m way way back in the early pot…”/a

• 32: Andrew Sullivan

  a href=”http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/brainiac/2009/09/sullivan_avoids_pot_charges.html” target=”_blank””The blogger and commentator Andrew Sullivan was busted in July for possessing a small amount of marijuana within the Cape Cod National Seashore.”/a

• 31: John Hickenlooper

  a href=”http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n997/a08.html?1263? target=”_blank””As I’ve already been open about in the past — and as I assume many would expect — I made personal choices when I was younger that I neither support nor condone for others and certainly wouldn’t encourage through public policy.”/a

• 30: Seth MacFarlane

  a href=”http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2008/07/03/seth_macfarlane_swears_off_marijuana” target=”_blank””I don’t smoke much pot anymore.”/a

• 29: Martha Stewart

  a href=”http://laist.com/2013/06/21/martha_stewart_of_course_i_know_how.php” target=”_blank””Of course I know how to roll a joint.”/a

• 28: Angelina Jolie

  a href=”http://www.metro.co.uk/showbiz/66340-angelina-jolies-reefer-madness” target=”_blank”“… the one that has the worst effect for me was pot. I felt silly and giggly – I hate feeling like that.”/a

• 27: Morgan Freeman

  a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2003/apr/21/artsfeatures” target=”_blank””Never give up the ganja.”/a

• 26: David Letterman

  a href=”http://www.cannabisculture.com/node/9795? target=”_blank”“I went through one period when I smoked a surprising, a really breath-taking, amount of grass almost every night.”/a

• 25: Jennifer Aniston

  a href=”http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-71729/I-enjoy-cannabis-says-Jen.html#ixzz24Cka4lW5? target=”_blank”“I enjoy it once in a while. There is nothing wrong with that. Everything in moderation. I wouldn’t call myself a pot-head.”/a

• 24: Michael Phelps

  a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nick-graham/michael-phelps-bong-pictu_b_162842.html” target=”_blank”“[Phelps] firmly denies that he takes drugs, suggesting that the notorious photo of him smoking from a bong was a one-time lapse of judgment.”/a

• 23: Tom Brokaw

  a href=”http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/brokaw-on-politics-pot_b17951? target=”_blank”“…what I did was experiment with a little marijuana like a lot of other people and walked away…”/a

• 22: Ted Turner

  a href=”http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/2606.html” target=”_blank””CNN anchor Gwen Scott claimed it is common knowledge that Turner sits in his office and smokes marijuana.”/a

• 21: Brad Pitt

  a href=”http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2091647/Brad-Pitt-quit-smoking-marijuana-turned-doughnut.html#ixzz24BzxWK00? target=”_blank”“I was hiding out from the celebrity thing, I was smoking way too much [marijuana].”/a

• 20: Lady Gaga

  a href=”http://content.usatoday.com/communities/entertainment/post/2011/02/lady-gaga-i-smoke-a-lot-of-pot-when-i-write-music-/1#.T143xczXEfI” target=”_blank””I smoke a lot of pot when I write music.”/a

• 19: Michael Bloomberg

  a href=”http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/10/nyregion/bloomberg-says-he-regrets-marijuana-remarks.html” target=”_blank””You bet I did. And I enjoyed it.”/a

• 18: George Clooney

  a href=”http://www.theweedblog.com/ten-celebrity-potheads-that-might-surprise-you/” target=”_blank”“The owner of a local cannabis café told reporters George Clooney was no stranger there.”/a

• 17: Rush Limbaugh

  a href=”http://www.chronicle.su/news/rush-limbaugh-endorses-marijuana/” target=”_blank””I wouldn’t have been able to make it through hundreds of shows if it weren’t for the benefits of medical marijuana”/a

• 16: LeBron James

  a href=”http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4350557? target=”_blank”“James also revealed he and his teammates smoked marijuana one night after getting access to a hotel room in Akron.”/a

• 15: Sanjay Gupta

  a href=”http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/08/health/gupta-changed-mind-marijuana/index.html?hpt=hp_c4? target=”_blank””I have tried it.”/a

• 14: Rand Paul

  a href=”http://www.gq.com/blogs/the-q/2010/08/gq-exclusive-rand-pauls-crazy-college-days-hint-theres-a-secret-society-involved.html” target=”_blank””According to this woman, who requested anonymity because of her current job as a clinical psychologist, “He and Randy came to my house, they knocked on my door, and then they blindfolded me, tied me up, and put me in their car. They took me to their apartment and tried to force me to take bong hits. They’d been smoking pot.”/a

• 13: Andrew Cuomo

  a href=”http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/attorney-general-andrew-cuomo-smoked-pot-younger-years-illegal-drugs-article-1.178948? target=”_blank””I did experiment with marijuana when I was a youth.”/a

• 12: George W. Bush

  a href=”http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/20/politics/20talk.html” target=”_blank””I wouldn’t answer the marijuana questions. You know why? Because I don’t want some little kid doing what I tried.”/a

• 11: Bill Gates

  a href=”http://www.amazon.com/Gates-Microsofts-Reinvented-Industry-Himself/dp/0671880748? target=”_blank”“As for drugs – well, Gates was certainly not unusual there. Marijuana was the pharmaceutical of choice…”/a

• 10: Bill Maher

  a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embeddedv=FLKkxPu2hfA#!” target=”_blank””Look, I have never made a secret of the fact that I have tried marijuana… About 50,000 times.”/a

• 9: George Soros

  a href=”http://www.reuters.com/” target=”_blank””He said he had tried marijuana, enjoyed it, ‘but it did not become a habit and I have not tasted it in many years.’”/a

• 8: John Kerry

  a href=”http://www.ontheissues.org/2004/John_Kerry_Drugs.htm” target=”_blank””Yes.” [In response to the question: “Which of you are ready to admit to having used marijuana in the past?”]/a

• 7: Jay Z

  a href=”http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2009/09/feature-time-to-build/” target=”_blank””I smoked some weed, and that’s how I finished ‘Izzo.’”/a

• 6: Jon Stewart

  a href=”http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-august-5-2008/seth-rogen” target=”_blank”“Do you know how many movies I wrote when I was high?”/a

• 5: Stephen Colbert

  a href=”http://blog.sfgate.com/tgoodman/2006/01/” target=”_blank””First, [in high school], I smoked a lot of pot…and that’s how I got to know the people ‘half in’ the society of my high school and we waved at each other over the bong. Then I got to know people by making jokes.”/a

• 4: Clarence Thomas

  a href=”http://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/11/us/thomas-smoked-marijuana-but-retains-bush-support.html” target=”_blank””The White House said today that Judge Clarence Thomas, President Bush’s Supreme Court nominee, had smoked marijuana while in college.”/a

• 3: Bill Clinton

  a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpBzQI_7ez8? target=”_blank””I experimented with marijuana a time or two.”/a

• 2: Oprah Winfrey

  a href=”http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/oprah-admits-smoked-marijuana-1982-hear-better-article-1.1428915? target=”_blank””To kick things off, [television show host Andy Cohen] asked the last time Winfrey had smoked marijuana. ‘Uh … 1982,’ Winfrey replied. ‘Let’s hang out after the show,’ Cohen joked. ‘Okay,’ Winfrey laughed. ‘I hear it’s gotten better.’”/a

• 1: Barack Obama

  a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpBzQI_7ez8? target=”_blank””When I was a kid, I inhaled frequently. That was the point.”/a