I just came to learn that only 7 per cent of Americans actually hold a passport - why so insular?

Question

http://www.gyford.com/phil/writing/2003/01/31/how_many_america.php

Considering that the US has record immigration levels, it's natural many of the Green Card holders must account for those numbers. It means most Americans DON'T TRAVEL outside do they.

Answer 1

No, green card holders would not be 'Americans' but residents.

However, I haven't used my passport since I had kids and started traveling less. As a result, my passport has expired. We've been to Mexico, Canada and Hawaii often, and in about half of the 50 states, but I haven't taken them overseas and don't work in a traveling job. So I would show up as not having a passport, as would they. Yet I have been to England, France, Germany, Italy, Greece, the Bahamas, Turkey, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, South Africa, Kenya, China, Hong Kong, Tai Pai and Russia (off the top of my head) and don't consider myself insular. Children below a certain age probably wouldn't have a passport here, because you have to travel a long way to get out of our country, unlike in Europe, for example. Older people may be beyond traveling at this point. So it is those in the middle who realistically should be looked at, and with a country as large as ours, you can travel to quite varied and distant spots without one.

Now that Canada and Mexico will require them, I suspect you will see that number jump, however.

Answer 2

Until recently you didn't need a passport to get to and from Mexico and Canada. I've been to both on several occasions and I don't have one. Even now, unless you're going in a plane you still don't need a passport to get to or from Mexico or Canada. All you need is a state ID or a birth certificate if you're too young to have an ID. So, despite what those stats imply, there's a very good chance many Americans have, in fact, been beyond our borders.

With the rampant Anti-Americanism expressed online, I wouldn't be surprised if most Americans don't want a passport. Why would you want to travel to a country where the only thing you know about it is the people you've encountered online completely and utterly hate you, your accent and apparently all the circumstances of your birth?

Answer 3

Yes that is correct, however, with the new travel laws such as not being able to go on a cruise with out one, more and more Americans are getting them. The real reasons most people don't have one is 1. They do not like the government controlling them and a passport gives the government control. 2. Until recently, they did not have to have a passport to go on a cruise to the Caribbean. 3. Travel to Canada and Mexico does not require a Passport. 4. most Americana's do not travel anywhere they cannot take their car. They like their freedom to go where they want at any time without the government telling them what they can and cannot do too much.

Answer 4

I can appreciate why Americans don't need to leave their own country but there is the rest of the world out there.

I wonder if they think that the US really is the best and there is no need to go and experience other cultures or countries?

Lots of times I've heard that Americans think the British are inbred - but we have a 5th of the population of the whole of America on this little island. They have just never bothered to find out the facts for themselves. Why should they go abroad? What else is out there apart from America, eh? Oh - apart from little countries like Iraq that need quashing so they can make sure of a good cheap oil supply. Granted, a lot of Americans think Bush is an idiot, but there must have been quite a few voting for him.

Answer 5

Wrong. Americans most frequently travel to nations that do not require a passport....Canada, Mexico, the Bahamas, British Virgin Islands and a whole host of Caribbean island nations. Up until now, documents such as an American Drivers License or Birth Certificate were all that was required.

Answer 6

Yes, but look at the size of the USA. It is like most of Europe being one country. In time, how many Europeans will need passports? All the Brits going to the Costa del Sol for their annual dose of sun won't need to queue up at the post office for their passsport application.

The USA is a diverse country, much misunderstood by the rest of the world. There is a whole lot more here than the Big Apple and Disneyland. So you see, we don't really need passports here. We can do most of the travelling we need without all the formality. In fact, as passport applications in Europe fall, American applications will rise as they are now required for travel to Canada, Mexico and the Carribean

Answer 7

Most of us Brits are really well travelled folk, international jet-setters.That's why we have passports. I wonder how many of us would bother if we didn't need to go to Spain for a bit of summer sun. Or to France for cheap booze. Belgium for roll-ups. Alps for a bit of skiing and the rest to follow football.
All this and more is available inside the USA.
There is a very small amount of travellers from UK that travel to absorb a new cultural experience, as creeping globalisation means that individual customs have been diluted to a uniformly predictable level.(there are still some gems on some long haul destinations, though). They don't need to go outside of America, have you seen the size of the place? Give them a break.

Answer 8

You obviously haven't travelled to the states, and travelled outside the main population areas.I spent a lot of time over there ,If you go outside the big cities, you ll find out why not many Americans hold passports, Iv been to towns where people think its huge thrill just to go down the road, or perhaps to the state capitol.. Most Americans are highly parhrocrial and have little of no knowledge or interest in what goes on outside their local area.. Most would have trouble finding Iraq or Afghanistan on map , oh most would have probs finding any European city.

Answer 9

Considering the fact that most Americans watch newscasts and in those newscasts Americans are not viewed in a pleasant light in the World, add to this the fact that a lot of American companies have moved overseas thus contributing to a lack of monies to spend on such trips and you can maybe understand why. Besides, with the influx of everyone coming here (most are illegal) all I have to do is go 20 miles down the road to the weekend flea market and see why I do not travel outside the United States.

Answer 10

i do no longer comprehend why that is decrease than 25%. area of the explanation is possibly by using fact maximum folk do no longer depart North usa and until those days you probably did no longer want a passport for the Caribbean or Canada. i think of you're making some unsubstantiated assumptions. no longer everybody has the skill to return and forth to Europe or Asia. human beings produce different priorities. additionally, by using fact someone does not have a valid passport now does not recommend they have by no skill had one. i will think of that as human beings become previous some do no longer situation renewing the passport.