4 ms·

Why more Americans don't travel abroad: only 30% have passports

9 points by georgecmu 16y ago

bendmorris 16y ago
Seems like a symptom to me, not a cause. If people wanted to travel abroad, they'd go get passports.
- Jach 16y ago
  No kidding, it's spectacularly easy to get one if you want. The only pitfall is not getting one quick enough for a trip as they can take some time to arrive in the mail without extra fees.
whiletruefork 16y ago
I'd be interested to see the distribution of passports geographically across the US. Some parts of the United States just don't lend themselves to easy travelling. Other than Canada or Mexico it isn't as easy to travel abroad (or neccessary) as it is for Europeans. The US spans Mountains for skiing, beaches for surfing, jungles, deserts, you name it - we've got the geography for it. In fact, it would be interesting to compare these statistics to possibly europeans leaving the EU zone (since then we would have geographically equivalent sets). In conclusion - get a passport, travelling is awesome!
r0h4n 16y ago
might be lack of respect/awareness of other cultures/parts of the world.
kylec 16y ago
It might also be due in part to the ridiculous and potentially humiliating procedures required for flight, especially international flight, that puts many people off of the idea of travelling.
- whiletruefork 16y ago
  It's easier now to travel then it has ever been before. I can wake up in the US and decide to have dinner in Paris. This versus having to tough a weeks long voyage across the Atlantic followed by months in wagons crossing unfriendly territory where I might die Oregan Trail style. Sure, airports could be better. But if you think the difficulty of airports now outweights the benefits of travelling I am surprised our ancestors ever left their huts.
  - martey 16y ago
    I think kylec was talking about leisure travel. People did not immigrate to the United States (or emigrate to Oregon) because they wanted a vacation, but because they wanted a better life. As a result, the mental calculus is different. Also, one could argue that international travel in February 2001 was significantly easier and less stressful than a similar trip today.
marcusbooster 16y ago
Passports are easy, plane tickets are expensive. The average American does not have the resources to plan out a luxury, multi-continental vacation. I can only hope my European friends don't take it personally.
- barrkel 16y ago
  Plane tickets aren't that expensive (I see about 550 USD New York / London round-trip on Virgin Atlantic, and that's just the first search I did). If your trip is city-focused, you'd probably save a substantial portion of that on car rental. And why does a cross-atlantic vacation have to be "luxury"? Most of the appeal of going such a long way is experiencing a different culture. Most of what you're buying with a luxury hotel is a more expensive lobby with more expensive services. (E.g. internet access cost is usually inversely correlated with room rate.) All you really need is somewhere safe, quiet and conveniently located to sleep, as you'll spend most of the day out of the room. EDIT: I did another search, except in March instead of May, and I was seeing round-trip prices of 377 USD.
  - tenaciousJk 16y ago
    Maybe $400 or $600 isn't expensive to /you/, but it is to me.
    - barrkel 16y ago
      I don't think 400 USD is expensive to a majority of this non-passport-owning 70% of the US population. I mean, it's not something you spend just any day of the week, but to never in your lifetime visit Europe?
  - Jach 16y ago
    When did tickets get cheaper all of a sudden... Last time I checked, Seattle to Lebanon was $2k round trip for the cheapest I could find. Now it's about $1k-$1300 (which is what I paid in taxes last year). (And Seattle to London right now is only $700-ish.) Both are too expensive for me right now, but you're right, they're not that expensive considering it's a trip rather than an ice cream cone. When I lived in Utah a few years ago, I drove up to Vancouver, Canada and spent 10 days in the cheapest Vancouver hotel I could find with wifi and between that and gas alone probably spent at least $700. If you stay in a Hostel they're about $20-$30 a night which can cut costs there, and it seems like anywhere big that's not-the-US has good public transportation.
mc32 16y ago
I think the question might better be, why don't Americans travel overseas? Then compare that to how many non-Americans travel overseas. What I'm getting at is that in a small country, you deplete exploration of your own country quickly. In larger places like America, Australia, Canada, China, Russia, one has lots to discover at home and "abroad" can be very far away for many in the interior. Whereas, places like Europe, Middle East, South America are made up (mostly) by relatively small countries, so going abroad could be a 5 hour drive or train ride. When Europeans go south for the Summer (or Winter) they go to another country, almost necessarily; in the US or other large countries, Summer beaches or Winter slopes are in the same country, hence no need to travel outside the country. I think this question of travel deserves another metric to take the distance and geographic discrepancies into account.
- barrkel 16y ago
  Geographically the US is varied, but pretty homogeneous culturally. Yes, there are differences, but compared with the differences between most countries, even in Europe, they're quite small. I guess I'm exposing my own biases; I don't travel for geographic or climate related reasons.
bconway 16y ago
Misleading title, the article spells out quite a few legitimate reasons for this, none of which have to do with people's ability to procure passports: Tourism experts and avid travelers attribute Americans' lack of interest in international travel to a few key factors, including: the United States' own rich cultural and geographic diversity, an American skepticism and/or ignorance about international destinations, a work culture that prevents Americans from taking long vacations abroad and the prohibitive cost and logistics of going overseas.

9 points by georgecmu 16y ago

bendmorris 16y ago

Seems like a symptom to me, not a cause. If people wanted to travel abroad, they'd go get passports.

Jach 16y ago
No kidding, it's spectacularly easy to get one if you want. The only pitfall is not getting one quick enough for a trip as they can take some time to arrive in the mail without extra fees.

whiletruefork 16y ago

I'd be interested to see the distribution of passports geographically across the US. Some parts of the United States just don't lend themselves to easy travelling. Other than Canada or Mexico it isn't as easy to travel abroad (or neccessary) as it is for Europeans. The US spans Mountains for skiing, beaches for surfing, jungles, deserts, you name it - we've got the geography for it. In fact, it would be interesting to compare these statistics to possibly europeans leaving the EU zone (since then we would have geographically equivalent sets). In conclusion - get a passport, travelling is awesome!

r0h4n 16y ago

might be lack of respect/awareness of other cultures/parts of the world.

kylec 16y ago

It might also be due in part to the ridiculous and potentially humiliating procedures required for flight, especially international flight, that puts many people off of the idea of travelling.

whiletruefork 16y ago
It's easier now to travel then it has ever been before. I can wake up in the US and decide to have dinner in Paris. This versus having to tough a weeks long voyage across the Atlantic followed by months in wagons crossing unfriendly territory where I might die Oregan Trail style. Sure, airports could be better. But if you think the difficulty of airports now outweights the benefits of travelling I am surprised our ancestors ever left their huts.
- martey 16y ago
  I think kylec was talking about leisure travel. People did not immigrate to the United States (or emigrate to Oregon) because they wanted a vacation, but because they wanted a better life. As a result, the mental calculus is different. Also, one could argue that international travel in February 2001 was significantly easier and less stressful than a similar trip today.

marcusbooster 16y ago

Passports are easy, plane tickets are expensive. The average American does not have the resources to plan out a luxury, multi-continental vacation. I can only hope my European friends don't take it personally.

barrkel 16y ago
Plane tickets aren't that expensive (I see about 550 USD New York / London round-trip on Virgin Atlantic, and that's just the first search I did). If your trip is city-focused, you'd probably save a substantial portion of that on car rental. And why does a cross-atlantic vacation have to be "luxury"? Most of the appeal of going such a long way is experiencing a different culture. Most of what you're buying with a luxury hotel is a more expensive lobby with more expensive services. (E.g. internet access cost is usually inversely correlated with room rate.) All you really need is somewhere safe, quiet and conveniently located to sleep, as you'll spend most of the day out of the room. EDIT: I did another search, except in March instead of May, and I was seeing round-trip prices of 377 USD.
- tenaciousJk 16y ago
  Maybe $400 or $600 isn't expensive to /you/, but it is to me.
  - barrkel 16y ago
    I don't think 400 USD is expensive to a majority of this non-passport-owning 70% of the US population. I mean, it's not something you spend just any day of the week, but to never in your lifetime visit Europe?
- Jach 16y ago
  When did tickets get cheaper all of a sudden... Last time I checked, Seattle to Lebanon was $2k round trip for the cheapest I could find. Now it's about $1k-$1300 (which is what I paid in taxes last year). (And Seattle to London right now is only $700-ish.) Both are too expensive for me right now, but you're right, they're not that expensive considering it's a trip rather than an ice cream cone. When I lived in Utah a few years ago, I drove up to Vancouver, Canada and spent 10 days in the cheapest Vancouver hotel I could find with wifi and between that and gas alone probably spent at least $700. If you stay in a Hostel they're about $20-$30 a night which can cut costs there, and it seems like anywhere big that's not-the-US has good public transportation.

mc32 16y ago

I think the question might better be, why don't Americans travel overseas? Then compare that to how many non-Americans travel overseas. What I'm getting at is that in a small country, you deplete exploration of your own country quickly. In larger places like America, Australia, Canada, China, Russia, one has lots to discover at home and "abroad" can be very far away for many in the interior. Whereas, places like Europe, Middle East, South America are made up (mostly) by relatively small countries, so going abroad could be a 5 hour drive or train ride. When Europeans go south for the Summer (or Winter) they go to another country, almost necessarily; in the US or other large countries, Summer beaches or Winter slopes are in the same country, hence no need to travel outside the country. I think this question of travel deserves another metric to take the distance and geographic discrepancies into account.

barrkel 16y ago
Geographically the US is varied, but pretty homogeneous culturally. Yes, there are differences, but compared with the differences between most countries, even in Europe, they're quite small. I guess I'm exposing my own biases; I don't travel for geographic or climate related reasons.

bconway 16y ago

Misleading title, the article spells out quite a few legitimate reasons for this, none of which have to do with people's ability to procure passports: Tourism experts and avid travelers attribute Americans' lack of interest in international travel to a few key factors, including: the United States' own rich cultural and geographic diversity, an American skepticism and/or ignorance about international destinations, a work culture that prevents Americans from taking long vacations abroad and the prohibitive cost and logistics of going overseas.