> That's remarkable to me because France has land borders with > several other countries, all countries with large populations, > while the United State

> That's remarkable to me because France has land borders with > several other countries, all countries with large populations, > while the United States mostly has to be reached by transoceanic > air travel. No, it mostly doesn't have to be reached by transoceanic air travel. According to some quick searching[1] around more than half of the tourists coming into the US are from Canada and Mexico. It certainly has more of an international mix than France[2] due to France's proximity to to other countries though. 1. http://geography.about.com/b/2012/05/02/country-of-origin-of-tourists-in-the-united-states.htm http://geography.about.com/b/2012/05/02/country-of-origin-of... 2. http://www.dgcis.gouv.fr/files/files/directions_services/etudes-et-statistiques/stats-tourisme/chiffres-cles/chiffres_cles06_gb.pdf http://www.dgcis.gouv.fr/files/files/directions_services/etu...