The two maps here are poke fun at the idea of how both Americans and Europeans feel about travelling to each other’s countries.
American’s will often say they are visiting Europe, which most commonly means the UK, France and/or Italy.
Conversely, Europeans will say they are visiting the America and only go to New York City, Florida and/or California.
And because I like to have a little data to back up my maps.
Here were the top 5 European destinations for American tourists according to the US International Trade Administration:
- United Kingdom (3.7 million US visitors)
- France (3.1 million)
- Italy (2.6 million)
- Germany(2.0 million)
- Spain (2.0 million)
And as for US states, here’s a full ranking of states by the number of overseas visitors also from the US International Trade Administration:
| Rank | State | 2023 Share of Tourists | Tourist Numbers (000) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York | 28.84% | 9,076 |
| 2 | Florida | 25.21% | 7,933 |
| 3 | California | 19.92% | 6,269 |
| 4 | Nevada | 6.83% | 2,149 |
| 5 | Texas | 5.95% | 1,872 |
| 6 | Hawaiian Islands | 5.30% | 1,668 |
| 7 | Illinois | 4.73% | 1,488 |
| 8 | Massachusetts | 3.99% | 1,256 |
| 9 | New Jersey | 3.25% | 1,023 |
| 10 | Arizona | 2.99% | 941 |
| 11 | Georgia | 2.89% | 909 |
| 12 | Pennsylvania | 2.68% | 843 |
| 13 | Guam | 2.24% | 705 |
| 14 | Washington | 2.07% | 651 |
| 15 | Utah | 1.82% | 573 |
| 16 | Virginia | 1.58% | 497 |
| 17 | Colorado | 1.48% | 466 |
| 18 | North Carolina | 1.45% | 456 |
| 19 | Tennessee | 1.36% | 428 |
| 20 | Michigan | 1.22% | 384 |
| 21 | Ohio | 1.06% | 334 |
| 22 | Maryland | 1.03% | 324 |
| 23 | Louisiana | 1.01% | 318 |
| 24 | Connecticut | 0.93% | 293 |
| 25 | South Carolina | 0.70% | 220 |
| 26 | Indiana | 0.67% | 211 |
| 26 | Minnesota | 0.66% | 208 |
| 28 | Wisconsin | 0.65% | 205 |
| 28 | Oregon | 0.64% | 201 |
| 30 | Puerto Rico | 0.50% | 157 |
| 31 | Missouri | 0.49% | 154 |
| 32 | Wyoming | 0.41% | 129 |
| 33 | Maine | 0.36% | 113 |
| 34 | Kentucky | 0.33% | 104 |
| 35 | Alaska | 0.32% | 101 |
| 36 | Alabama | 0.31% | 98 |
| 37 | Kansas | 0.29% | 91 |
| 37 | Rhode Island | 0.29% | 91 |
| 37 | New Mexico | 0.27% | 85 |
| 40 | New Hampshire | 0.26% | 82 |
| 40 | Oklahoma | 0.22% | 69 |
| 40 | Arkansas | 0.21% | 66 |
| 40 | Iowa | 0.21% | 66 |
| 44 | Montana | 0.21% | 66 |
| 45 | Delaware | 0.17% | 53 |
| 46 | Idaho | 0.17% | 53 |
| 47 | Nebraska | 0.17% | 53 |
| 47 | South Dakota | 0.16% | 50 |
| 47 | Mississippi | 0.13% | 41 |
| 50 | Vermont | 0.13% | 41 |
| 51 | North Dakota | 0.08% | 25 |
| 52 | West Virginia | 0.07% | 22 |
| 53 | U.S. Virgin Islands | 0.06% | 19 |
Y.D. Robinson says
With regard to Americans visiting Europe, I would add Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and Belgium, even though each of those are slightly less visited than the UK, France, and Italy.
With regard to Europeans visiting the US, I would snip all of Upstate New York (certainly Albany and points north and west) from the map, as Upstate attracts no more visitors than the other 47 states not shown on the map. (Unless Niagara Falls helps propel even Upstate into the New York State rankings as a whole…although then again, probably more Niagara Falls visitors stay on the Canadian side.)
DD says
What are the numbers of foreign visitors to Washington, D.C., before the current administration?
James Marsters says
At least with Italy, Americans probably visit several places there: Rome, Visa, Florence, Venice. I’d imagine that in France and the UK, Americans pretty much only visit Paris and London.