EU and US Regions' Vacation Spending in 2015

The chart above shows the average vacation expenditures for overnight stays by EU and US region in US dollars.  All US regions spend more on vacations than any EU region does.

Findings

• The difference between the region with the greatest vacation spending, the Western US, and the region with the least, the Eastern EU, is $506.21.
• The Western US has 3.80 times the average vacation expenditures that the Eastern EU does.
• The difference between the US region with the greatest vacation spending, the Western US, and the EU region with the greatest, the Western EU, is $255.53.
• The Western US has 1.57 times the average vacation expenditures that the Western EU does.

Caveats

• All figures are rounded to the nearest hundredth.
• United Kingdom data is from 2013, all other data is from 2015.
• US data is for domestic travel only whereas EU travel includes international.  International travel spending for US states ranges from $3,135.12 to $3,945.26.
• EU and US data come from different sources.
• EU data was converted from euros to dollars at the average 2015 0.90 euros to dollars rate.
• The Western US consists of California, Washington, Colorado, Arizona, Oregon, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Hawaii, Idaho, Alaska, Montana, and Wyoming.
• The Northeastern US consists of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Delaware, Maine, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
• The Midwestern US consists of Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
• The Southern US consists of Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Louisiana, South Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, and West Virginia.
• The Western EU consists of Germany, United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Ireland, and Luxembourg.
• The Southern EU consists of Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, and Malta.
• The Northern EU consists of Sweden, Denmark, and Finland.
• The Eastern EU consists of Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.

Details

Every single US region spends more than $500 on vacations whereas every single EU region spends less than $500.  If international spending for the US were to be included, the difference would be much larger as every single US region would spend at least $3,000.

The next series of posts will look at vacation spending relative to per capita GDP to allow for a clearer picture.

Sources

Eurostat.  2017.  "Data Explorer."  Accessed December 11, 2017.  http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=urb_lpop1&lang=en.

Eurostat.  2018.  "Data Explorer."  Accessed August 20, 2018.  http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-321805_QID_-9617439_UID_-3F171EB0&layout=TIME,C,X,0;GEO,L,Y,0;UNIT,L,Z,0;PURPOSE,L,Z,1;DURATION,L,Z,2;PARTNER,L,Z,3;EXPEND,L,Z,4;INDICATORS,C,Z,5;&zSelection=DS-321805INDICATORS,OBS_FLAG;DS-321805DURATION,N_GE1;DS-321805UNIT,EUR;DS-321805PURPOSE,PERS;DS-321805PARTNER,WORLD;DS-321805EXPEND,TOTAL;&rankName1=PARTNER_1_2_-1_2&rankName2=UNIT_1_2_-1_2&rankName3=INDICATORS_1_2_-1_2&rankName4=EXPEND_1_2_-1_2&rankName5=DURATION_1_2_-1_2&rankName6=PURPOSE_1_2_-1_2&rankName7=TIME_1_0_0_0&rankName8=GEO_1_0_0_1&sortR=ASC_-1_FIRST&sortC=ASC_-1_FIRST&rStp=&cStp=&rDCh=&cDCh=&rDM=true&cDM=true&footnes=false&empty=false&wai=false&time_mode=NONE&time_most_recent=false&lang=EN&cfo=%23%23%23%2C%23%23%23.%23%23%23.

Reward Expert.  2018.  "Average Cost of Vacations by State."  Accessed August 20, 2018.  https://www.rewardexpert.com/blog/studies/average-cost-of-vacations-by-state/.

United States Census Bureau.  "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2016."  Accessed December 12, 2017.  http://factfinder2.census.gov.