In Brazil, about 80% of people prefer to travel within the country. This happens mainly because of the language, which makes communication easier, and because Brazil is huge and diverse: each state has different cultures, climates, and landscapes, almost like small countries. Also, travel costs and logistics make international trips more difficult. Traveling domestically also allows people to better experience the history, food, and different ways of life. In the United States, do people also prefer to travel within their own country or do they take more international trips?
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US by far.
International travel is a lot more expensive than domestic travel so most Americans can’t afford to travel internationally (edit: at least not as often as they travel domestically).
You gotta qualify your terms here.
Definitely domestic travel, the main international destinations are Canada or a Mexican beach resorts
Similar in America. It’s a huge country and vastly different areas climate wise and geographically and culture. Americans mostly travel within America.
Within. Unless you’re on the borders of Mexico or Canada, going abroad is a considerable distance and expense.
Within for sure. Other than Mexico or Canada most countries are a several hour flight and the US is also massive and diverse. I’m sure this similar for those in Brazil.
Here in the US we’ve got beaches, forests, deserts, mountains, lakes, wintery landscapes, coastal towns, big cities and all kinds of things to do 🙂 It’s way cheaper to travel around in the states and we can visit all of those places without a passport or the hassle of traveling out of the country. A lot of my family members have never left the country but have visited a lot/most of the states!
Definitely within the US. Another important factor is that a lot of vacation time is spent visiting family, who are usually in the country, too.
Definitely the US. Most other places are very far away.
Within.
We also have a diverse country.
A trip to Seattle, NYC, New Orleans and Yellowstone will all be very different trips with different climates, cultures and things to do/see.
In Texas we travel to other parts of Texas for vacation. My wife and I go to Cancun a bunch because it’s so quick and convenient from DFW. So I would say people from the southern and southwest states may be more likely to go to Mexico or a few Caribbean countries, but US travel is still most popular.
Rich travel abroad. We just get the Wisconsin Dells
Fewer than half of all Americans have a passport.
It really depends on how much disposable income you have. The nice thing about the US is that it is so geographically diverse you can see a lot without spending much if you just stay domestic.
That being said anyone with money travels abroad, and frequently. My wife and I typically do 3 international trips a year and 6-10 domestic vacations.
I didn’t get on a plane till my late 20s. I’ve always wanted to travel outside the US but the cost is prohibitive; driving someplace is far more accessible. I know we have two countries connected but I also have never owned a passport. I have a saving jug for kiddos graduation to travel to Japan.
More travel inside the US for many reasons, it’s cheaper, there is a lot to do, it’s easier to get around and don’t need a passport, safer for those who are unsure of other countries. I’ve been to 13 countries so far but I still vacation way more inside the US. A plane ticket to Miami is $60 each way for me and I live in the north east. Can’t beat it for a quick getaway
I don’t know if 80 percent “prefer” to travel within the country, I’d say there’s about 80 percent for who it’s not financially feasible to travel internationally other than to Canada or Mexico. Also a lot of people have relatives in other states and sometimes a trip to visit their relatives or is all they can afford for the year. In a hypothetical world where people could travel wherever they wanted, I think people would choose to do both, but there’s also a lot who wouldn’t want to travel to the opposite “red/blue” area from where they are within the U.S. You mentioned different states having different cultures, we have that here too, but Americans tend to be much more tolerant to cultural differences in other countries than they are in their own. TL/DR we definitely would like to take international trips if they are financially feasible for us. We’re not too scared of the language barrier because it’s not too hard to find English speakers everywhere.
Travel? In this economy?
A large and increasing number of us can’t even afford to leave our own city, much less the state or country, unless it’s to go make more money so we can scrape by.
These days we travel abroad FAR more than the US. Traveling in the U.S. has gotten so, soooooooo stupidly expensive. By the time you price out travel in the U.S., you can travel abroad for almost the same exact price and get way better accommodations and food. Restaurant prices are out of control in the U.S. Even for a thoroughly mediocre restaurant it is now costing $20-30 per plate. Friggin burgers and taco plates $20-30. So many places now tack on service charges, then they still try to push for 20-30% tips. Then there’s tax. Hotels in the U.S.? So stupidly expensive for what you get. 2 star hotels in NYC running $300-400/night. So many 1 star lodges around national parks gouging people for $300-600/night. Then they want you to tip everywhere from the bag boy to room housekeeping staff. I‘ll never forget a wedding we had to go to in the middle of nowhere Delaware recently . Rooms cost $289/night. In DELAWARE. Just bonkers. I have heard of people blowing $10,000+ usd just to go to the Delaware beaches on a summer family trip too. Delaware beaches aren’t even remotely world class in any way.
It‘s really a no brainer for us. We spend a little extra after points to fly to say Tokyo or Bangkok. We stayed in friggin downtown Tokyo for $80/night at a small and nice boutique hotel. So many good eats in Japan and ZERO tipping anywhere. No taxes for tourists while shopping. Same kind of story in Thailand. For the same ripoff price we’d pay at a garbage hotel near a national park in the U.S., we could easily stay at an amazing four or five star hotel in Thailand and get incredible food for less than $100 all over Thailand. All in, international travel can be almost the same price, plus you get to explore different cultures.
Many people choose the U.S. pretty much because of time and lack of vacation days. But increasingly we find the U.S. to be an incredible ripoff for the quality of accommodations and food you get relative to the price, and after factoring all of the stupid tipping and taxes.
US, for sure. Like Brazil, the US is a large country, with unique cultural characteristics from region to region or even State to State. You can travel extensively and still not see everything.
Its the same here, probably closer to 90% actually.
We have almost every biome in the contenental US except for tropical rainforest and polar tundra and both of those can be found in Hawaii and Alaska. Heck my state of Arizona despite being famous for our deserts has one of the largest pine forests in the world and my city of Flagstaff routinely ranks in the top 10 snowiest cities in the country.
About 45% of Americans have a passport, but a large percentage never use it to go beyond Canada and Mexico, the two adjacent countries that are easy to drive to. 80.7 million Americans traveled outside of the borders of the country last year, or roughly 24% of the population, but of those, 47% visited Canada and Mexico. What that means is that roughly 12.5% of the population traveled internationally beyond Canada and Mexico last year.
If the other 76% of the population travelled anywhere, it was within the US.
Bold of you to assume we can afford to travel anymore
You’d be amazed how many people have never even been out of their state.