Americans do travel internationally
 

I don't know where many of you get your information or who your friends are but, I don't know any friend, neighbor, acquaintance that has not been to Europe or Asia several times. I have met people in Europe (I am now pen pals with two of them) who would never leave their continent. They say air fare is too expensive, they are scared, they don't know English well enough etc. etc. Americans fuel international economies. <BR>Europe, Asia etc. have exhorbitant taxes and we pay them when we rent cars there, buy gasoline, eat meals, stay in hotels. <BR> I live in a tourist city in the USA. I don"t see German, French, Italian etc. tour buses here. Americans on tour in Europe are everywhere. AMERICANS TRAVEL TO EUROPE, ASIA ETC. CONSTANTLY. <BR>Europeans rarely travel here.

Americans, where do you live that you never see any foreign visitors? You mentioned a "tourist city"?

Ess, <BR>I said I rarely see international travellers, not that I never see them. I do see some Japanese tour groups. Also, I am acquainted with many Asians and a few Europeans that live here. My father-in-law was born in Europe. <BR> I live in California. Where do you live?

Only 20% of Americans own a passport!

Hi: <BR>Come to NYC if you want to hook up with European Visitors. We love when they visit! My thought is that it it much easier and cheaper for Europeans to visit the East Coast. The West Coast is quite a haul even for the most hearty of traveller.

Likewise come to Hollywood... Just this past weekend I met a whole group of British people who were visiting to enjoy the weather and buy western gear! Then there are busloads of tourists 24/7 just 3 blocks away from my house.

Jurgen, <BR>Interesting statistic. Now where did you find that? Not from the US Passport office.

Yes, indirectly, that is exactly where it is from.

Americans, I live in suburban Long Island, NY, not one of the hot tourist spots of the world, unless you count the Hamptons or Montauk in which case we get loads of Europeans in the summer. When I lived in New York City I met so many foreign visitors and had so many friends from other parts of the world that I felt like I lived in the United Nations. Which, in a way, I did. But I suppose NYC is not the "typical" American city.

Jurgen, <BR>You are able to get something I was unable to get. So please tell me exactly how you got this information from the US passport office. Thank you.

http://travel.state.gov/passport_statistics.html will give you stats on # passports issued by year. <BR> <BR>A quick count indicates 49.9 million were issued from 90-99 (~19+% of the total population). Still that's almost 50 million people who either did or want to travel abroad. <BR> <BR>Fun with statistics: <BR>If all US passport holders formed a country, they'd be the 25th largest (by population) in the world. <BR>

Why would a European or an Asian tourest visit our cities. (I know that they do). Our cities are babies compared to the rest of the world (excpet Austrailia). Whild traveling in the US for many years, I never was in a national park where I did not see a lot of international tourests. Also i've never been anywhere that I didn't run across wither Aussies or New Zealanders (they have to be the most traveled peoople in the world.) <BR> <BR>

Juergen, and others: What's a "good" percentage for passports issued? <BR> <BR>Seems to me that's quite a large number when you consider: <BR> <BR>-Probably a quarter of the population (?) is under 18 and would rarely be expected to have a passport. (Do remember that children can be grouped with an adult on a passport, and quite often are) <BR>-Passports are not required for travel within North America (US, Mexico and Canada) ... as opposed to Europe where, until fairly recently, passports were required for most travel over a couple of hundred miles, often far less. Even today passports are required in Europe for some short journeys similar to traveling from New York City to New Jersey. <BR> <BR>Ed

"Americans", just some statistics. From: http://www.bps.go.id/statbysector/tourism/table25.shtml <BR>Tourists to Indonesia 1999: <BR>From USA (population 270 million): 151,763 <BR>From Germany (population 81 million): 169,083 <BR>From United Kingdom (population 58 million): 138,296 <BR>From the Netherlands (population 16 million): 86,022 <BR>If you want to find out where Americans travel to, have a look at: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0778210.html <BR>To see the "balance" between overseas visitors to the USA and Americans going overseas, have a look at: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0762125.html

And here: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0778214.html you can find the nationalities of travellers to the USA: <BR>1. Japan; 2. UK, 3. Germany; 4. France; 5. Brazil; 6. Italy, 7. Venezuela; 8. Netherlands; 9 Argentina; 10. South Korea.