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As an American who worked overseas for almost a decade, I think the reason is price, inconvenience, and lack of vacation.
The reality is you got many Americans who are put in a box of work, home and family. The long vacations we used to have--think Chevy Chase's summer vacation--seem to have gone away and morphed into PTO, and to be frank for many there's just not enough accrued vacation to make a trip to Europe or Asia worthwhile when you factor in the jet lag. I worked for an American company when I was overseas, and Europeans were shocked I was only in Thailand or Bali for a long weekend. That was the reality, you just have to make the most of it. From my experience most working Americans are either too busy working to do much of anything else, or not working at all and crying broke.
Americans overall, I think, tend to travel "closer" to the US, or in this hemisphere, at least it seems that way. The numbers may speak otherwise, which I have not looked into. This is just my opinion and view based on what I think it is.
I know so many people who go on vacation in the US itself--to Florida, California, New York, out west, New Orleans, Washington DC, etc. Or they go to Mexico, Canada or the Caribbean islands.
It's further away by plane to travel to Europe, Africa, South America, Asia, etc, for Americans, and that takes more PTO and more money.
Since most companies to this day only offer about 3--maybe 4 weeks of total paid time off, oftentimes folks will just take a week vacation somewhere in the caribbean or domestically, and then use the rest of the PTO for short trips, rest and relaxation, or errand catch up, etc.
For Europeans, it's much easier to travel to 10 or 15 different culturally rich, and very unique countries, that are very close by. One can travel in Europe seemlessly by train, and visit 10+ countries in a week. Americans don't have that close access privilege.
Why do so many Europeans complain about Americans?
Serious question
They don't understand Americans. It is why Americans complain about Europeans.
BUT back to the travel question.
I immigrated to this country at the age of six. Born in one culture, raised in a second, and educated in a third. English is my fourth language.
My American girlfriend in 1976 wanted to spend the summer in Europe. I tried talking her into New Zealand or Australia. No dice, so 3.5 months in Europe!!
I actually enjoyed English and the Dutch people. French, well see next paragraph.
France, I thought I could stay drunk on the cheap wine. Who knew that cheap wine in France is awful. Undrinkable. We were raised on cheap California wine, which was the used in this blind tasting.
I could have been hiking the entire Pacific Crest Trail. I could have been in the Wind River Range in Wyoming. Bighorn Crags or maybe the Seven Devils. The southern Sierra's. The Canadian Rockies. Yellowstone.
Yosemite was my backyard and I worked for two years in Sequoia National Park. So didn't care about those two.
As a forester, Europe holds NO ATTRACTION for me. We have only a limited time on earth, why would anybody spend it in Europe??
There are no wildlands left in Europe and therefore no attraction for me. And there are lots of American's that would rather be hunting on the Salmon River in Idaho, than sipping awful wine in France.
1: The U.S is geographically insular, with only two neighbors (Canada & Mexico) and sitting on the vast land.
2: Culturally the U.S can be insular too, with many Americans’ reluctance in learning foreign languages and “We are the most powerful country of the world†mentality. Not every American, but there are some out there. And it shows in their attitude towards venturing out of the border(s).
3: The U.S work culture doesn’t encourage nor enable a long (more than two weeks) vacation, which makes traveling abroad limited in terms of time, cost-efficiency and the quality of the trip. Many Pacific Asian countries have far more crazy work/overwork schedule but the close proximity to other countries makes international traveling fairly easy. Most Europeans get to travel “next door†neighbors through trains and roads often for the similar reasons in addition to its paid vacation through the social security system.
4: Due to its massive size, many Americans barely even make it to travel to the entire country, let alone outside the country.
5: In all fairness, the U.S is a well-endowed country with very diverse geographical beauty and variety, one can find all kinds of natural landscaping wonders here. However, culturally some people can be very self-contained to the point of not having much curiosity of the outside world other than its immediate comfort zone.
Well I feel like half my Facebook feed these last two years was people sharing pictures from some European country. I know about 5 families that went to Greece in 2023, just Greece alone.
Upper middle class is traveling to Europe plenty.
There is also the real and perceived costs - even though you can spend more going to Disney than to Spain.
Here is another reason....
The US has a LOT to offer, travel wise. You've got skiing, deserts, beaches, prairies, long road trips, national parks, cities like NYC, Vegas, Chicago, Miami, LA to visit. There is a ton of variety to be had just traveling within the US. Moreso than probably anywhere.
I would never say Americans don't travel overseas, because it is not true. What is true, is that many Americans have not traveled overseas. I know some who have never left their own county, let alone their own state. But some of us have traveled overseas. I have been to 41 countries so far. I may not be typical, but I am American.
In the last 20 or so years, I've traveled to Europe roughly the equivalent of once each year, but it was much easier when I lived in Chicago and had that well-connected international airport at my disposal. For many Americans, travel to Europe involves flights with 2 or 3 legs, which makes for long and miserable travel days. Additionally, I can't sleep on a plane no matter how hard I try and on top of that, being fairly immobile and seat-bound on flights of more than 9 or 10 hours is absolute hell for me. I like to explore Europe, but wow, what drudgery in getting there and back. I anticipate I will never visit Asia or Australia for these reasons.
I would never say Americans don't travel overseas, because it is not true. What is true, is that many Americans have not traveled overseas. I know some who have never left their own county, let alone their own state. But some of us have traveled overseas. I have been to 41 countries so far. I may not be typical, but I am American.
I don't think the headline implies that literally nobody travels overseas. It was a generalization that I expect most people would read as "relatively few Americans travel overseas compared to what we're used in OP land."
The US has a LOT to offer, travel wise. You've got skiing, deserts, beaches, prairies, long road trips, national parks, cities like NYC, Vegas, Chicago, Miami, LA to visit. There is a ton of variety to be had just traveling within the US. Moreso than probably anywhere.
This is the answer that applies to me. The only reason I have to travel overseas is to visit my lady, who is currently stationed in Japan, and even that can only happen so often given her occupation.
I just booked a trip to Seoul, Korea. I am super excited! However, I waited to do so till after I quit working even part time because between the jet lag and the trip itself (15 hours non stop - ugh), I figure I need a total of three weeks and that's probably not do able where I worked. (it feels weird to type that) Anyway, I still haven't seen parts of the US though, INCLUDING TOURING NEW YORK CITY which is where so many Europeans want to go! On my bucket list though!
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