Off The Grid: Why Foreigners Just Can’t Get Enough America

The United States is the only industrialized country that doesn’t have a national tourism office. There’s a semi-official one. But it’s not a taxpayer-funded agency, nor is it as well organized or as publicized as other more legitimate tourism bureaus.
This is largely because America doesn’t need extra help promoting itself. As the cultural, commercial, celebrity, national park, and convenience capital of the world, around 80 million people visit it each year, second only to France.
Why do they come in such high numbers? After researching dozens of reports from mostly satisfied foreign visitors, here is the consensus reasoning:
Supersized Life
There are a lot of big countries in the world. But when ranked by inhabitable, arable and navigable land, America is by far the biggest. Because of this, the country is sprawling. To cover all that ground, we built 4 million miles of paved, mostly wide, and fast interstate roads—a combined network that dwarfs all others. To fill those roads, we have the greatest number, variety, and size of cars. In between those big roads, we live in big houses with big TVs and big garages. We park in big parking lots. We watch sports in big stadiums. We attend big festivals. We eat big portions of food. We don’t think big is always better and know it comes with its own challenges. But we’ve accordingly filled our allotted space with big everything, a unique and sometimes indulgent behavior that isn’t lost on visitors.
Inspiring People
Having visited a dozen countries on five different continents, I know first-hand that there are good, inspiring people the world over. But according to visiting foreigners, several things set Americans apart. “They smile and say hello to complete strangers,” is one popular compliment. “They wish people well and are noticeably generous,” is another. While Americans are rightfully knocked for being insincere at times, most agree that this superficial behavior is better than the alternative that’s sometimes felt abroad. Furthermore, Americans’ optimism, hard work ethic, experimentation, and even overconfidence, have been cited as infectious.