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

25 Interesting (And Odd) New York Facts

An aerial view of one of the world's most famous cities (and my home) New York. This shot was taken from New York's tallest skyscraper the Empire State Building.

I was born, raised, and plan on living the rest of my life in the city that I love called New York. Now while I may reside on the other side of that 126 year old bridge in Brooklyn, I still consider myself simply a “Noo Yawka.” Growing up in this city has always made everyday life interesting and full of unexpected surprises.

I still come across new things to do each week in the five boroughs. You could probably eat out every night for 10 years and still not claim to have tried every restaurant in New York. Because by the time you got close, new ones would be popping up left and right.

I could assist you with finding a great Greek restaurant in Astoria, give you advice on what beaches are perfect for a day in the sun and what beaches are just plain nasty, map out the best Irish pubs to down a few pints in The Bronx, point you in the direction of the best pie or slice in Brooklyn (that is pizza for you people outside the area), and tell you why you should not waste your time going over the Verrazano Bridge (hint: Staten Island and New Jersey are on the other side).

But when I came across some interesting New York facts, I felt compelled sharing them with you. I am a big fan of my city and love reading, watching and hearing about its history. So check out this small sampling of interesting NY tidbits. If you have some to share feel free to leave a comment.

1. Now while the skyline of New York today is filled with enormous buildings that scrape the sky, way back in the 1660s NYC’s view was dominated by a two-story-high windmill.

2. So why is it called Wall Street? It has nothing to do with those greedy pigs in the financial field, instead way back when the Dutch ruled this area Wall Street was the city limit and there was an actual wall built there.

3. Why are the NYC taxi cabs yellow? Because American businessman John Hertz, the same Hertz that we rent cars from today, read a study that said yellow was the easiest color for the eye to spot. Makes sense.

4. The Outerbridge Crossing, which is a small bridge that connects New Jersey and Staten Island, is actually named after Eugenius Harvey Outerbridge. Many locals still think that it is just some name for an “outer-bridge”…whatever that is.

5. Manhattan’s Chinatown has the largest collection of Chinese residents in the Western Hemisphere.

6. More than 25% of the world’s gold is located 80 feet beneath the Federal Reserve Bank on Wall Street.

7. Cleopatra’s Needle, which is a 3,000-year-old Egyptian ruin, can be located in Central Park. The Khedive of Egypt gave it to New York City as a gift in 1879. It took almost 10 years to transport the 220-ton, 66-foot-high monument.

8. For many years, the “tallest building in the world” title changed hands nearly 10 times, but one thing remained the same…they were all located in New York! The Empire State Building held onto that title for 42 years, until it was finally overtaken by One World Trade Center in 1973. After the attacks of 9/11, the Empire State Building regained the title of tallest building in New York.

9. Want to major in Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing? Well then move to NYC and enroll at the Fashion Institute of Technology. It is the only school in the world that offers this unique degree.

10. New York City has 722 miles of subway tracks…and counting.

11. Did you know that the New York Post is the oldest newspaper in the United States? It was founded by none other than “Mr. $10 bill” Alexander Hamilton. Do you think that the first US Secretary of the Treasury would have imagined his creation would be around more than 200 years later and turned into a sleaze-filled tabloid with a sports section and crossword puzzle?

12. The first American pizzeria opened way back in 1895 and was owned by New Yorker Gennaro Lombardi.

13. You like toilet paper? Yup it was invented in New York City by Joseph Gayetty in 1857.

14. New York was the first state in the country to make  it mandatory that all cars drive with license plates.

15. Drink up! The first American brewery was founded by Peter Minuit in lower Manhattan. However Minuit was born in Germany. But still…

16. A park larger than the size of Central Park is currently being created in Staten Island on the former site of a temporary landfill.

17. Speaking of Staten Island, up until 1975 it was officially named the Borough of Richmond.

18. Nearly half – 38% – of all Brooklyn residents were born in a foreign country.

19. Manhattan is the most densely populated county in the United States. The runner up is Brooklyn.

20. No Main Street in Manhattan? That is a fact…but you can walk down Main Street in The Bronx, Queens, Staten Island, and Brooklyn.

21. Before it was called Broadway, that piece of Manhattan was an old Algonquin trading  route called the Wiechquaekeck Trail.

22. The Bronx is the only New York borough connected to the mainland.

23. The fourth longest boardwalk in the world can be found in Staten Island. It stretches 2.5 miles long.

24. There are over 215 types of bird species in Central Park.

25. Finally…why is New York called The Big Apple? Well this has been debated by New York historians for decades. Here are two of the more popular stories behind the name. First, it was a term used by jazz musicians meaning to play the big time. Apparently there was a club in Harlem called the “Big Apple” and only the best musicians played there. The other story, which the city government has even recognized in tourism literature, states that a writer covering horse races in 1920 repeated in the ‘Morning Telegraph’ what stable hands in New Orleans referred to a trip to a NY racecourse as the “Big Apple”, or greatest reward for any thoroughbred. Either way both make for a good story and can put to rest that my city did not get its nickname from selling giant produce to locals.

Tags: brooklyn, new york, new york city, queens, staten island, the bronx, united states of america

Sunday Travel Shot: Shoshone Falls In Southern Idaho

Nicknamed "Niagara of the West," Shoshone Falls is a waterfall on the Snake River near Twin Falls, Idaho. The falls are 212 feet high and 36 feet higher than Niagara Falls.

Tags: idaho, Shoshone Falls, united states of america, waterfall