Quote:
Originally posted by theking
I do not recall saying anything about a country falling apart...my point was that many countries on the earth have as a significant part of their GDP American tourist dollars...which indicates that Americans do travel abroad...in significant numbers.
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And I'm saying that's incorrect. If tourism makes up 5% of a countries GDP, yet only 1/5th of the tourists are American, then American tourists are contributing only 1% and that's insignificant.
You must balance both sides of the equation. American tourists pour money into other countires, and foreign tourists also pour money into the USA. If everyone in the world stopped traveling outside their own country, the USA would lose the most income.
And Americans
are poorly travelled.
What % of Americans have been out of north america? (Hawaii doesn't count) - versus the % of (for example) Australians who have visited the northen hemisphere? or Japanese who have visited the USA?
The ignorance of most americans about life outside their homeland is sad; and a quality not shared by citizens of other wealthy nations whose news networks are much better about covering important events elsewhere. Public education here is a joke with regard to world history and global current events. Never once did any teacher even mention the conflict (and potential nuclear standoff) between India and Pakistan. Or the China/Taiwan dispute. Or the history of Israel and the Middle East. Forget the problems in Africa. Nah, none of that is as important as memorizing every date and detail of the Lewis & Clark Expedition.
