No Wonder the Lines are So Long Everywhere! Some Interesting Passport Data

You are forgetting that travelers from the rest of the world also make up substantial parts of those lines.

There are parts of the world sending huge numbers of travelers now that didn't in the past, China and India being just two.

Very true Nigel - I am guessing many countries travel growth is similar or greater than the US - especially China & India to a lesser degree.

I think for the US and other countries it clearly demonstrates the affluence of the baby boomers.

I think Keith hits the nail on the head. I certainly take many more trips to mainland Europe than I did years ago, at least 4 per year though I must admit I do try to avoid the busiest tourist periods and indeed the sights that everyone seems to want to tick-off their list.

I think the requirement to have a passport to travel to Canada (which has not always been the case) is probably the biggest driver for the upswing in passport requests in recent years for US citizens.

That's my guess. You also need one for most cruises, and for Mexico. That requirement went into effect sometime in the mid 2000's.

Speaking of which, did anyone else see the story about 1500 Americans in Michigan doing an annual river float? They drifted into Canada and had to be returned by bus. No passports, of course. Canadian papers were calling them refugees. Drunken refugees.

That's my guess. You also need one for most cruises, and for Mexico. That requirement went into effect sometime in the mid 2000's.

Actually not - if the cruise departs & returns from the same US city aka closed loop - a Birth Cert & photo ID are all that is needed. Surprisingly - many cruisers still do not spring for a passport.

I think for the US and other countries it clearly demonstrates the affluence of the baby boomers.

Perhaps "for the US" baby boomers. Many other countries have unprecedented economy growth in the past decades. A whole new class of travelers is born.

http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/ST.INT.DPRT

Hi,

On this last trip in the tourist areas and train stations of Vienna, Frankfurt, Salzburg, Berlin, Prague, the nationalities I saw or heard language wise sometimes daily were Italians, Russians, and Chinese (both Mandarin and Cantonese), more Chinese than Japanese, it certainly was not American English. On the IC and ICE I saw Asians constantly, individual millennials, certainly not so with Anglophones. Traveling now is definitely different in which nationalities you see from what it was 40+ years ago, as respects to Russians, Indians, and Asians.

A few years back, ca 2011, CNN reported that even with more stringent requirements needing a US Passport when traveling, only 25 % Americans have a passport. I've had one constantly renewed since 1971.

Relaxation of international Visa requirements for travel makes makes a huge difference for certain countries when their citizens don't have obtain or pay for a pricey travel Visa to visit somewhere. When I went to Argentina, a Visa (for US citizens) was $120 or so and I believe it was only good for one year. When you remove barriers to entry and make it easier to travel, more people will come.

http://travel.usnews.com/features/How-Global-Visa-Changes-Impact-Travelers/

There is a slew of accessible information available for planning purposes, greater ease for do-it-yourself travel, huge marketing reach of the internet has opened up a lot of new places and overemphasized others, and more competition from budget airlines, etc. It is definitely not just baby boomers who have disposable income to travel...travel is more affordable and feasible in general.

When I was in Hallstatt in 2009, I noticed quite a few Asians (and Italians, very few Anglos). Then I was at Neuschwanstein in 2013, during Oktoberfest, and a lot of Asians. I can't remember so many Asians before then.

Definitely the prosperity and ease of travel restrictions in the Far East means many more Korean, Chinese and Japanese tourists. Also European prosperity and the ease of travel within the EU means that many more Europeans are traveling on the continent - in their own countries as well as foreign ones.

Christi - do those numbers represent only new passport issues or also renewals.

And after The Wall came down, we could freely travel inside the former Soviet Union, but even better, they could get out to see the rest of the world. People didn't have much money for hotels those early years, so some slept in cars or tour buses and ate food they brought, but at least they were able to come see the rest of the world. Big change.

I am not sure Chani - it does not say. With it being governmental I'd even be afraid to guess as logic does not always apply!

Until the 21st century those tourists from the Far East one only saw was that proverbial busload of Japanese businessmen in their blue suits arriving at a site clicking away with their terrific 35 mm cameras. I saw them too a few times in 1970s and '80s. In the 1990s tourists from India were showing up in noticeable numbers. Now, you see a lot more of everyone from the Far East.

Stay at the hostels in Vienna, you can bet on seeing numerous Asian millennials and even older folks speaking Mandarin or Korean, likewise with hotels. On one of the trips to Vienna a few years ago, a Serbian women's group were among the hotel's guests, I saw their tour bus, and it was not peak season, only May. That you would not seen 30 to .40 years ago. Americans may be going or not going over, being deterred by safety concerns, whatever but that does not seem to be the case with other nationalities which you can spot out on a daily basis at the tourist sights and train stations.

...Actually not - if the cruise departs & returns from the same US city aka closed loop - a Birth Cert & photo ID are all that is needed. ......

While that is basically true. It is strongly recommended by cruise lines to have a passport and I think most do from our observation. The issue is what happens if you have an emergency need to depart the ship prior to returning to the US. You will need you passport if you fly back early.

I wonder about the statistics and how to read them. For example - In 2015, 15,556,216 were issued. But how many were renewals of the 10,123,424 passports issued in 2005. The data doesn't indicate differences between new passports and renewed passports.

This is an interesting chart, from the same website. Notice that the requirement for a passport to travel to Canada, Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, etc., about 2007 only spiked the rate of increase a little bit.

https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/passports/statistics/img_passport_stats_chart_circulation_2014_large.jpg

My impression is that the crowding at major European sites is mostly the addition of Asian and Eastern European tourists.

I did not mean the title as strictly literal...I was just surprised at the growth of US passports in the past 20 years as opposed to the previous 20 years.

I'm not surprised about growth of passports...see airline fee deregulation and dropping of fares over time
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/02/how-airline-ticket-prices-fell-50-in-30-years-and-why-nobody-noticed/273506/

Passports on their own are only one explanation for why there are too many people at top tourists sites...there will always be too many people at the same sites, especially at peak periods, no matter where those people come from. Same reason why too many people go to the same "top" National Parks (Yosemite, Yellowstone, Bryce, etc) relative to others who visit lesser known parks that are often harder to get to (Big Bend in Texas). There are Top 10 "must see" attraction lists everywhere (in hard copy books and online articles) and the same attractions get mega amplification on the internet and get rebroadcasted over and over again through marketing and word of mouth (and let's not forget cruise ships). Call it the Cinque Terre or Dubrovnik Effect.

If the price of flights were lower, say suddenly taking a nose dive to $900 departing from the west coast, I wonder how many more would be going over given other pertinent concerns, such as safety, which Americans do factor in, whether perceived or real danger. If flights got down to some fantasy price of $800 to $900, I certainly would be going over more often, or if you didn't have to contend with the Schengen rules.

What I've seen in the last several years, say from 2005, if Americans aren't traveling, lots of others are replacing them in ever increasing numbers, say from Italy, Russians, Asians. South Americans, etc. Look at who are other guests are at the hotels you stay at, what languages are being spoken? More so, if you are traveling off season, obviously, "they" are too.