Comments on: Why Americans Travel A Lot More Than You (And The Rest Of The World) Might Think

By: Heather

Heather — Sun, 27 Apr 2014 05:14:51 +0000

In reply to Barbara Weibel. Couldn't agree more. As a bi-cultural woman and frequent business traveler, I rarely see other Americans overseas - unless their business requires them to travel. I love this country, but I do believe Americans should broaden their horizons and realize there is much more than this bubble of the United States.

By: Anil Polat

Anil Polat — Mon, 02 Dec 2013 13:38:50 +0000

Thanks for your insights and adding your findings on the correlation of travel patters with exchange rates. I would suspect an important factor on international travel patterns.

By: Mr. Nana

Mr. Nana — Mon, 18 Nov 2013 09:16:52 +0000

I’m in equity brokerage. My travel industry analyst crunched the numbers from the commerce department and we found that a similar umber of Americans travels to Europe as vice versa. In fact, over the last ten years half the time more Americans were traveling to Europe than vice versa (it’s fairly highly correlated with exchange rates). I can’t speak for the rest of the world, but Europe is filthy with American travelers, even in the off season.

By: Anil Polat

Anil Polat — Mon, 28 Oct 2013 15:16:07 +0000

In reply to Travis. True and there is a lot of regional cultural variation within the United States itself, something I think many people who haven't traveled in the country (or only to big cities) casually neglect. In addition to the shifting demographics and the potential for increased disposable income, the United States has a steady strong supply of immigrants which means more people who have traveled and more Americans who will be influenced by those immigrants. Through inter-marriage, friendships, etc. it's a subtle but I believe important component of what the future of American travel looks like.

By: Travis

Travis — Fri, 25 Oct 2013 20:37:11 +0000

Very interesting points, and you do a great job debunking the myth of the non-traveling American. Like you mention, because of the vastness of the US, it is much further for most Americans to get to an international border than it is for Europeans.

Lee Abbamonte and I just had this discussion in the latest podcast and an interesting anecdote came out of it. Both of us figured out that as children, we traveled the South Jersey shore (no, not that Jersey Shore) for family vacations. Roughly 2.5 hours by car each way.

In many European countries, 2.5 hours by car or train could get you in to numerous other countries!

(although one could argue that the Jersey Shore SHOULD be it’s own country).

Interesting stuff, for sure, and like you, I’m very happy to see the number of YOUNG Americans who are hitting the road, doing gap years between college and work, or even in their late 20’s and early 30’s, is really encouraging!