‘Everybody loves Americans’: Why US tourists are a hot commodity

Justin Albertynas, a travel industry expert based in Vilnius, Lithuania, has some good news for US travelers who might be a bit self-conscious about the “ugly American” stereotype.

His opinion: “It’s not true at all.”

“Europeans in general, and all the European businesses that I’ve made contact with during my years in the industry, they’re always welcoming to Americans,” explains Albertynas, who’s CEO and co-founder of Ratepunk, a startup whose browser extension scans major travel booking sites to uncover the lowest price on hotel rooms.

“Especially when they are from New York or LA, everybody is kind of putting them on a pedestal. So, actually on the contrary to the ugly American fad, everybody loves Americans.”

Not everybody might share Albertynas’s sentiment. But the tourism industry does seem to love at least one aspect of US travelers: their spending power.

The US market has long been a coveted demographic for tourism boards, tour operators and destination management companies (DMCs) throughout the world for numerous reasons, perhaps most notably because of their incomes: Averaging about $70,000 annually, salaries in the US are the seventh-highest in the world.

Discretionary income means higher budgets for travel expenses, and American tourists indeed tend to spend more on dining, hotels and organized tours than their counterparts in Europe and elsewhere, tourism experts say; they’re accustomed to tipping, too. They also take longer trips and often bring a passel of loved ones with them.