Average Americans Attitude Towards Travel

[G Unit79]

Let me first say that as an American citizen I am very proud to be American and would not give up my passport for anything. However one of my major issues with my fellow Americans, (in particular minorities) is their attitude towards travel. Some of my best friends still think something is wrong with me because I would rather spend my vacation time going to exotic locals around the world, rather then go to Miami with them. When I explain to them how great Phuket is and what a wonderful time they will have they look at me and say "Not Interested." It's really frustrating and sad that most young people in America really have no interest in traveling. Sometimes it has to do with the fear from the media rather its SARS, Bird Flu, Tsunamis, or Political unrest. Other times people are just ignorant and would rather stay with what they know and go places like Las Vegas, Miami, or any other number of typical U.S. Cities.
Bottom line is I wish people would learn to broden their horizons here in the states. Not sure if its the same in other countries but if you have experienced this same type of mind state I would love to hear about it...

[Lightemup]

I've met Americans here in Iraq, thats never been out of their county before joining up and going abroad.

I dont get it, people like that scare me over here...

In comparison, I've travelled through about 20 US states, most of Europe, some African countrys, currently doing the Middle East and starting to set up for a grand asian tour....

[mikegb]

I heard a statistic a while ago (I dont know how true it is) that 90% of Europeans have a passport, and 90% of Americans don't.

Its a shame not to see the world we live in as it is soooooooooo easy (and cheap!) to travel now.

There are a lot of people in the UK who have one holiday a year, and they fly to the same place (usually spain), and they mix with thousands of other people from the UK !

Its their holiday, so its up to them, but its not my idea of fun.

[the bigboy]

dear G,
don't what others think just enjoy your own life.
i can tell you one thing for sure most americans gettin more and more paranoia especialy government and big international companies.
i work for a big us company for 27 years now and after 9-11 things go worse.
many us citizens don't feel safe in there own country and these days they are scared to go abroad,because international opinion of the us is not so possitive anymore ,for me i work with a lot of americans and have no problems ,but i can understand there feelings.

so enjoy life it's to short to waste it on other's opinion

[faultytowers]

I remember having a conversation with an American about this very subject, and he mentioned that not that many US citizens had passports. Your post brought this to mind,so I went to Ask.com and put the question, the article below is the first of many links. To read the full article and the many links within it , I will post the web link.

http://gyford.com/phil/writing/2003/...y_american.php



Writing
Friday 31 January 2003
How many Americans own passports?
One of the reasons America is sometimes described as being an insular country is the low ownership or passports, and thus the low rate of international travel. Which in some ways is fair enough; in comparison to Europeans, for example, popping over to another country is often a bigger deal than jumping on a train. But Ted read that only 7 per cent of Americans own passports and wondered where the figure comes from. It seems the statistic varies, for example:

25%: “75% of Americans don’t own a passport”
22%: “just 22% of Americans own a passport”
<20%: “less than 20% of all Americans own a passport”
15%: “85 percent of Americans do not own a passport”
10%: “only 10 percent of US citizens *ever* own a passport”
<10%: “fewer than 10 percent own a passport”
7%: “only seven percent of Americans own a passport”
None of these are remotely official but I can’t find an official government statistic for passport ownership. The closest I’ve found is this page of the number of passports issued per year. First, lets be generous and say that every passport was issued to an adult and therefore lasts ten years. Assuming that everyone who’s been issued a passport over the last ten years still has it, that’s 60,884,784 people with US passports. Given the US population is around 280 million, that gives us 21.7 per cent owning passports. Taking into account some of these will be five year passports, we have a figure that’s probably a little under 20 per cent. Is there any reason this calculation would be way out?

Incidentally, I graphed the statistics for US passports issued per year [updated 24 April 2004]. You can see the dramatic rise over the past ten years. This may account for some of the lower figures people give; they could simply be out of date. Using the same method for the years 1981-90, for example, we get less than 15 per cent ownership, without taking into account five year passports. If the rate of issue stabilised at around 7 million per year, never mind further growth, then by 2013 around a quarter of US citizens will own a passport (assuming the same total population).

Update: From the comments, the Economist has a subscriber-only article that states 34% of Americans over the age of 18 own passports, but cite no source for this. By comparison, it says 41% of Canadians over 18 have passports. (10 Sep 2005)

[DaveB]

A lot of people are quite often afraid of the "unknown or unfamilier" and their desire to see new or far away places seems in my experience to greatly influenced by the whats on the news or in the tabloid papers, especially in the UK. So, better play safe then?

Remember Sars? we were in Thailand during that time and no problems at all but to read the British press you'd think it was suicide & a one way ticket to visit LOS then.

It seems to be the "sheep" instinct.



Rgds, Dave B

[magnusvv]

I think misperception of anywhere outside the US being "unsafe" is a major factor. I remember for my first trip to Asia my parents were both trying to convince me to go someplace within the US or down to the Caribbean.

My mother is still nagging me about worries of bird flu and malaria each time I travel to Thailand. My father goes on about the terrorism in the south of the country.

I feel quite safe when I travel. The only thing I worry about is being ripped off by a tuk tuk driver or having to barter too much with a t-shirt vendor.

Also lets not forget how damn stingy these American companies are with vacation time. I was ready to do a song and dance when I got my 3 weeks this year. Most people only have 2 weeks.

[seafox]

their loss. This is a repeat of a thread that I responded to when I joined the forum in April 2005. I was born in the Netherlands, am a US citizen, and all of my immediate family travel abroad. The US is 2500 miles long east top west and 1200 miles miles wide north to south and that is a lot of area to cover but also Mexico, Micronesia(up until 2 years ago), and lots of Caribbean islands do not require US citizens to have a passport to enter their country. Bush just told everyone that passports will be mandatory for travel out of the US to any country(and toget back in to the US) soon. Serves all the idiots without a passport right, just being lazy and cheap. The US has a tropical paradise in Hawaii and lots of people go there. Went there once, probably never again unless someone pays for me to go, as it is way overpriced compared to most other non caribbean tropical getaways and the scuba diving sucked. Passport costs $67 for 10 years and there are no hassles getting out of or back into the US with it but I guess $6.70 per year is too much to pay for ease of travel.

[Heywood]

Personally I think its in your blood...or not.

I agree with the numbers being posted...many things are contributing factors...how about the lack of need of a passport in order to experience many types of cultures and climates, Some of my friends say if I want blue water and a nice beach..I can have that without a passport and a long plane ride...If I want to experience culture I'll go outside of my neiborhood...all kinds of people everywhere...so why leave and go into an area you have no rights??

Now I'm not one of those people who likes to stay home, so I enjoy the adventure, I won't travel to the same place multiple times a year because for me I want the experience of something new. Now out of the other 75% I would be willing to wager that economics plays a role...beside you can rule out very high percentage of minoritys who rarely travel...regardless.

Mindset also effects the rest...if you haven't noticed we are not the most popular group of bastards Oh well such is our lot in life.

[butterflyblonde]

Although America is a land of huge diversity, these citizens who don't bother to broaden their travel horizons, are missing out on a world of experience.

[Heywood]

Originally Posted by butterflyblonde

Although America is a land of huge diversity, these citizens who don't bother to broaden their travel horizons, are missing out on a world of experience.

I agree with that 100%, but then I don't really want to stir up a hornets nest and let the secret out of the bag...let em stay home and eat McDonalds...if you want culture go to burger king

[seafox]

Originally Posted by Heywood

I agree with that 100%, but then I don't really want to stir up a hornets nest and let the secret out of the bag...let em stay home and eat McDonalds...if you want culture go to burger king

or Wendy's, Jack in the Box, Tommy's, In N out, or a thousand other fast food restaurants.

[G Unit79]

Originally Posted by Heywood

Personally I think its in your blood...or not.

Hewwood, I agree with this to an extent, I also think it has to do with what your exposed to from an early age. The sad thing about many Americans growing up is that we are never really exposed to other cultures and what we are usually exposed to by the media are the negatives of other cultures. I remember when I first moved to Japan, my friends back home had so many ignorant questions for me I had to laugh. Then when I would tell them what was really going on they would be amazed, but they still had no interest in going to see for themselves...

[the bigboy]

you have to see it this way. it's their loss not to come to LOS 5555
more girls for us

[JayBee]

I think the mistake in this thread is that people are comparing Americans to Europeans.

First) How many Americans do you think have never been out of their home state? If you live in NY or Massachusetts, it is over 2000 miles to go to Vegas, and over a 1000 miles to go to Miami. There isn't any person living anyhwere in Europe who could travel 1000, let alone 2000 miles and not be either in another country or on another continent. So unless you are a complete couch potato, you really need a passport. If you lived in Italy, for example, within a 2000 mile radius, how many countries could you visit. I would need a list of UN membership to answer that question, but it must be about 100 countries.

Second) As stated by Magnus, very few Americans get more than 2 weeks of vacation time per year, and most of them are school teachers, which is not really paid vacation, since they could make more money teaching summer school, if they chose to do so. In fact, a very large perentage of Americans get no paid vacation at all. I would love to see the figures on this but my guess would be that it is in the 40 to 50% range of the able-bodied people of working age.

Third) Most people can't afford to travel abroad any farther than Mexico or Canada, or the Caribbean, which you don't need a passport for. They neither have the time nor money to do so. Flights to Hawaii, Florida, Vegas, LA, or SF, which are the most popular destinations can be had with special deals that include accomodations for very little money, a bit less than the cost of a ticket to LOS. Going to LOS, you lose a day going and a day coming back, which is 2 days. Going to a US vacation spot, you get on a plane in the AM, and are there for lunch, losing no time at all from your valuable two weeks(which most people up half of for personal days off during the year). Most people take a one week vacation to Hawai or elsewhere once a year.

Fourth) All my friends say they are so jealous of me for taking off months at a time. They would all love to go to LOS, or Europe, or S. America, or Asia. The ones with the money don't have the time. The ones with the time don't have the money. The ones with the tiem and money have been there or India or S. America, or Europe, Australia, and love to travel. i don't know any of these people who supposedly don't want to travel abroad. Maybe that is because I live in the SF area.

Fifth) Many people in the US live a long distance from where their parents live, where they were raised, and have family. For them, often the precious week or two on vacation is spent travelling cross country to see folks who they wouldn't see, otherwise. This is especially true for couples with kids, because they would like them to have a chance to meet their grandparents.

I only got a passport in 2001, to travel to LOS. When I was i my early 20's, I often went to Mexico, Guatemala, and Canada. I never flew. I hitchhiked, took trains, and buses. Cost of transportation, next to nothing. No passport. Would I have loved to go to Asia or Europe or Africa. You betcha! I was so jealous of my friends who did, but no way could I afford to.

So, all these comparisons to Europeans are totally out of line, IMHO. There can be no fair comparison!

JayBee

[butterflyblonde]

Jaybee,

I know english that have regular jobs, barely make ends meet but occasionally find the time and money to explore the world,ie: get off their backsides and do something about it, usually much further away than simply ''hopping within 1-2000 miles' inside europe.

Some of these people have been Canada, Australia,you name it the list goes on. I know some that have probably seen more areas of the USA than your average american.

Bear in mind the cost of living here is phenomenal and we live in tiny box houses about the size of your amercian kitchen.

Somehow, your'e argument does not stand up.

[Rex7777]

I'm an American, but I don't pretend to represent the "average" American. Those that I do know personally are a mixed bag, travel wise. Some are creatures of habit and will return to the same places for vacation, year after year. Others can't really afford frequent international travel. And some simply think that anyplace outside the USA is somehow "third world." Of course, the wealthier the people, the more they're likely to travel abroad. I'd say that, on average, the Americans you're likely to meet travellig internationally are probably in the upper income groups.

Also, there's the point about vacation lengths. Two or three weeks is typical, per year. I get six or seven weeks, but that's unusual. But even I have a hard time getting away when I want, as I tend to use up my vacation time throughout the year. A day here, a day there.

Rex

[Hep]

For me it is just a matter of priority. I love to travel and see the world so naturally I prioritize this in my life. My plan is to have visited all the countries in the world before I die :P

I would say that 95% of the Danish population in the age from 20 – 60 go on a vacation somewhere outside Denmark at least once a year. Many of these families save up money all year from low salaries to just go on this vacation. I don’t think that traveling has much to do about money to be honest. Naturally if you are dead poor then you most likely won’t travel, but otherwise people do find the money for it. (and want to)

This is the mentality of Danish people – most Danes enjoy traveling around the world and we like seeing new and different cultures. Naturally you also have the people that go to the same place over and over again. Take my grandfather for instance. He has been to Tenerife (Small Island of the coast of Spain in case you don’t know) 56 times with my grandmother and they are going again next week. They enjoy those trips but also travel to other parts of the world as well.

I my self travel a lot and always want to travel more. I also happen to have family in the US so I have been in the US at least 20 times for vacation and business.

I think that one of the reasons why many Americans don’t travel much is because they really don’t know what they are missing out on. What I mean is that the majority of the Americans I have met, have been interested in things happening in the Unites States, about places in the US, about things going on in the US but they don’t really pay much attention to what goes on in the world outside the US. Now I don’t mean this in a negative way but if you don’t know what is happening in the world around you why would you want to go visit it? Most people go with what they know so if an American guy knows about Miami then it is more likely he will go there for his vacation than go to Europe for instance.

I recently spent two weeks in Miami and the price for that vacation was extremely high compared to all others I did. The plane ticket was basically nothing (cheaper than going to LOS) but the accommodation, food, entrance fees to various stuff etc etc. I bet you that a US family going on vacation in Florida could take a vacation in Europe for the same if not lower amount of money.

Also the fact that most Americans don’t have that much vacation which of course will play a major role in any vacation planning. If you only have two weeks and you even split them up as separate weeks, then you don’t want to waste 2 days traveling. I see that completely. Here in Denmark we have 6 weeks paid vacation – I don’t know what the other European countries have.

Finally I think it comes down to the values and ideals that various nationals have for themselves. A US citizen has some totally different values than a DK citizen. All life we are brought up with a certain value set and it is hard to break out of that.

Originally Posted by JayBee

There isn't any person living anyhwere in Europe who could travel 1000, let alone 2000 miles and not be either in another country or on another continent. So unless you are a complete couch potato, you really need a passport. If you lived in Italy, for example, within a 2000 mile radius, how many countries could you visit. I would need a list of UN membership to answer that question, but it must be about 100 countries.

Not quite true Jaybee. If you live in Norway, the distance from one end of the country to the other is around 2500 Km or 1540 Miles. I think that Sweden is around 1600 Km or 1000 Miles too if I’m not mistaken.

In Scandinavia it has also been possible to travel around without your passport for a long time now. With the Schengen agreement the countries in the European Union is also heading this way, but I bet you that people still will get the same amount of passports because they still want to explore the world.

[Hep]

Originally Posted by Rex7777

Others can't really afford frequent international travel.

What do you mean with frequent Rex? Once a year of more? Havent you found that airfares in general have gotten a lot cheaper these past years? I know that is the case in Europe so how is it in the US?

[Starburyballa3]

Well I'm an exeption to the rule then (for young people not wanting to travel.) I will actually be going to Thailand for my second vacation ever (My first being San Diego, it was a blast I must say.) So there are some young people out there that are looking to travel. I myself am actually looking to become a travel agent and at some point open my own agency.

[cooperspooky]

Vacations that are very popular in the US are all inclusive deals to Mexico, Jamaica, and the Carribean. My friends always ask me why I would board such a long flight when I could get a shorter and cheaper flight for the same thing. They just don't get it. Those trips never made any sense to me. You fly all the way to another country and then literally, you never leave your hotel. The hotel has bars, restaraunts, shops, pools, disco, etc.. And all the food and drink has already been paid for. It's very convenient and very stupid.