Congressional Republicans accepted four times the privately sponsored trips in 2021, but Democrats accepted pricier travel opportunities.
Interest groups spent nearly $1.6 million to send members and staff on a total of 790 trips last year, according to LegiStorm data.
Republicans took 630 of those trips at more than $1.0 million total, while Democrats' 159 trips totaled nearly $540,000. Those groups dropped more total money on GOP travel but spent about double the average amount per trip for Democrats ($3,400 per person) compared to Republicans ($1,500 per person).
The Congressional Institute was responsible for 45 percent of all private congressional trips in 2021 and spent nearly $300,000 courting Republican members and staff.
International travel made up only 10 percent of all trips for the year, with Qatar (13 trips at $240,000), South Korea (8 trips at $150,000), Israel (5 trips at $116,000) and the United Kingdom (7 trips at $85,000) as the top far-off destinations.
Although both international and domestic travel have continued to increase throughout the pandemic, sponsorship is still nowhere near pre-pandemic numbers. In 2019, Congress accepted 2,317 trips worth $7.8 million - nearly three times 2021's trips and over seven times the cost.
