Who Visits America The Most?

Canadians still visit the United States way more than any other foreign country around the world.

Last week I wrote about how America was voted the “most liked” country in the world. So with so much love for the U.S. going around, one question must be asked. Has the world’s crush on Uncle Sam helped with the country’s tourism? In a word…kinda.

Year after year when the U.S. Commerce Department’s Office of Travel & Tourism (OTTI) releases their data of which countries have visited America the most, two destinations continuously top the list – #1 Canada and #2 Mexico. That really should not come as a surprise since both countries sandwich the U.S. and are more easily accessible than any other locations on the planet.

So who else is checking out the streets of New York, the Hollywood hills, and all points in between? Well coming in at #3 is the United Kingdom. Even with a decline of 16.9% in tourism through July 2009, the U.K. is still the most popular visitors from overseas.

Another country that visits often is #4 Japan, which also saw a major decline of 17.6% for year-to-year tourism traffic. Coming in at #5 was Germany, and yes just like the rest of the countries listed, Deutschland saw a 7.5% drop in tourists between July 2008 and 2009.

Now if you are wondering why so many people have halted hauling themselves to the U.S., it is quite simple – the economy. Due to a worldwide economic meltdown over the last year and a half, international tourism is down across the board sharply. Just like many Americans have skipped taking worldwide jaunts in favor of more domestic trips, so has the rest of the world apparently.

To help remedy the continuous decline of foreign visitors, Congress is considering a Travel Promotion Act. In it, anyone that shows up to the United States must pay an additional $10 fee. The money collected would be used to start a travel campaign in various countries around the world to boost interest in visiting the United States.

Currently the Commerce Department is not funding any ad campaigns to promote travel to the States. Yes you read that correctly…no marketing at all! The last time the U.S. was promoted was back in 2007, and even then it only received a measly $4-$9 million dollars. What a joke.

On a positive note, with the economy getting slightly…and I stress slightly better, tourism has picked up a bit and that is always a good thing for any country. Below is a list of the top 20 countries that visited the United States between January and July 2009, the amount of visitors, and how much tourism has decreased from the same time the previous year.

1. Canada (10, 108, 302 visitors) – 9% decline

2. Mexico (3,308,779) – 9.9% decline
   

3. United Kingdom (2,149,149) – 16.9% decline
   

4. Japan (1,564,441) – 17.6% decline
   

5. Germany (921,874) – 7.5% decline

6. France (694,340) – 1.1% decline

7. Brazil (469, 985) – a slight increase

8. South Korea (415,509) – 12% decline

9. Italy (379, 641) – 4% decline

10. Australia (376, 614) – 2.7% decline

The remaining 11-20 include: India, People’s Republic of China, Netherlands, Spain, Venezuela, Ireland, Colombia, Argentina, Switzerland, and Sweden.

Courtesy of Forbes Traveler.

Tags: argentina, australia, brazil, canada, colombia, france, germany, india, ireland, italy, japan, mexico, netherlands, People's Republic of China, south korea, spain, sweden, switzerland, united kingdom, united states of america, Venezuela

USA Is The World’s “Most Liked” Country…No, Really It Is

Nein, nein, nein! Warum!!! Yup it’s true. Germany has indeed been dethroned as the “most liked” country in the world. No longer is the land of giant pretzels and beers the most beloved according to a new survey. So what country is “most liked” right now?

The United States of America.

Yeah I was shocked too. But the results from a summer 2009 survey of 20,000 people in 20 geographically and economically diverse countries revealed that the world is seeing the US of A in a whole new light.

According to Forbes, which released the results, “The survey asked respondents to rank 50 countries in six categories: governance, culture, products and services, people, tourism and immigration/investment.” Many are saying that the jump to 1st is solely based on the popularity that President Barack Obama has right now around the world.  “The Obama Effect” has truly been phenomenal for the global image of the United States.

So just how much has the world changed its opinion on the USA? Well according to Simon Anholt, an independent policy advisor which conducted the survey, British approval jumped from 53% the previous year to 69% today. Love among the French rose to 75% over the last 12 months, up from 42% in 2008. Tres bien!

This was the first time that the United States came in first place since this survey started back in 2005. Last year USA was ranked seventh in the world. What’s not to love about us? We started two wars, currently suffer from the worst job market in nearly 100 years, lack affordable health care to millions of citizens, fail to provide a decent education to our youth, suffer from an obesity epidemic, refuse to use the metric system, and have “news” stations show balloon boy coverage 24/7 instead of actual world events.

Oh yeah Americans will sleep soundly tonight knowing that people around the world like us…they really, really like us. Take that the rest of the world! By the way the previous paragraph was not some “Anti-American” soap box speech. I love my country, but it does have a few flaws right now.

Here are the results of the survey’s top 10 “Most Liked Countries” around the world with their ranking from last year in parenthesis:

1. United States (7)

2. France (2)

3. Germany (1)

4. United Kingdom (3)

5. Japan (5)

6. Italy (6)

7. Canada (4)

8. Switzerland (8)

9. Australia (9)

10. Spain (tie) (11)

10. Sweden (tie) (10)

Tags: australia, canada, france, germany, italy, japan, president barack obama, spain, switzerland, united kingdom, united states of america, usa

Travel Experts Reveal More Dirt From The Road

Well yesterday’s article was pretty revealing. I mean we had some very sinful travel experts get a lot off their chest. In fact it got so bad that I needed to close down the confession booth for 24-hours. But I am back with even MORE travel confessions.

I will try to keep it a little cleaner today I promise. When most travelers confessed to me, one topic seemed to come up quite a bit and that was “I have never been to…”. Below are some places that these vagabonds have yet to mark off on their “to see” list.

• Johnny Jet, a man you would think has touched every inch of this planet, has yet to make his presence felt at the Grand Canyon.

• Nomadic Matt is another globe-trotting individual that has also seen most of the world. He also runs one hell of a travel blog. But Matt confesses that he has not yet rolled the dice in “Sin City” Las Vegas.

• Stephanie Yoder of Twenty-Something Travel visited Amsterdam, but skipped the Red Light District.  That is like going all the way to New York and not trying pizza! Stephanie also mentions here why she has yet to walk the streets of Paris.

Have you ever visited a popular destination and wound up being extremely disappointed? You’re not alone. Two such travelers shared their dismay with a certain Italian destination that millions of vacationers flock to each year.

• Andy Murdock of Lonely Planet told me, “I’ve only been to Venice once, and all I wanted to do was leave as quickly as possible. It was the height of summer so it was hot, filthy, smelly and just crammed full of tourists and hawkers selling tacky trinkets at every turn, and the geography makes it really difficult to escape the hordes. I hate telling this to people because they’ve either been and loved it and try to convince me to go back and give it a second shot, or they haven’t been and hold romantic notions of the city that I don’t especially want to dash because of my one bad experience. Maybe one day I’ll return off-season, but for me it’s like an expensive restaurant that everyone else loves but gave me food-poisoning: why should I spend the money and effort to go back when there are so many new places to try, not to mention places I would love to return to?”

• Gary Arndt ,who runs the extremely popular travel blog Everything-Everywhere.com, also did not enjoy his time in Venice. Arndt confessed, “My first reaction when I arrived in Venice was ‘Wow. This looks just like EPCOT Center!’.”

• Spendthrift Shoestring’s Alex Robertson Textor fessed up and told me, “I’ve been to 98 countries/territories, but I’ve never visited Sydney, Tokyo, Mexico City, or Orlando — or a cruise ship.”

• The Elite Travel Gal herself Stacy Small has been to many great cities around the world, but one seems to keep getting away from her. Small told me that she has never been to New Orleans. “I had a few trips planned,” Small stated. “But I always had to cancel due to inclement weather!”

• Mike Barish, contributing travel writer to Gadling.com, expressed that, “It took me 30 years to get to Paris. Still haven’t been to London. Yet I’ve been to India twice.”

• Sarah Schlichter from IndependentTraveler.com told me that she likes to keep it simple for accommodations and that, “I never stay at luxury hotels. They’re too pretentious, and I don’t feel like I belong there. Give me a B&B or a mid-priced guesthouse any day.”

Wow! The confessional’s line is out the door. I am going to have to shut it down for today. Check back tomorrow for part 3/3 of travel confessions.

Tags: amsterdam, australia, cruises, england, florida, france, grand canyon, italy, japan, johnny jet, Las Vegas, London, lonely planet, louisiana, mexico, mexico city, nevada, new orleans, nomadic matt, orlando, Paris, red light district, sydney, tokyo, travel confessions, venice

Sunday Travel Shot: Perth, Australia

Rottnest Island is located 11 miles off the coast of Western Australia. It forbids private ownership of land and is an extremely popular holiday destination for local Aussies. Interesting fact, Rottnest is antipodal, or diametrically opposite on the planet, to the island of Bermuda.

Tags: australia, bermuda, island, perth, rottnest, Travel

Global Game: Twilight Football To Take Place Around The World Tonight

Tags: argentina, australia, brazil, cornwall, england, france, italy, south africa, tintagel castle, venice