16 years
It feels like more Americans might be inclined to travel to other American cities if there were cool, inexpensive, modern European-style hostels to go to. But it's hard to make an effort to develop said hostels when it doesn't seem like there's enough demand.
That is a great marketing angle: "European-style hostels". Americans would be interested in the sound of that more than "backpacker hostel" or "dormitory".
I've been toying around with the idea of developing some kind of website or organization devoted to increasing desire to travel between US cities... Like an "East Coast Road Trip" guide, or something along those lines.
Good idea for a Web site. If you buy a domain name that is not locked down to a specific location (e.g., something with "East coast" in the domain name) then you could expand it to the entire country later.
And what exactly is the market like for people from other countries visiting cities in the U.S. other than New York or L.A.? I know that friends of mine from when I spent a semester in Germany said that Philly and Boston really appealed to them, and an older woman who I stayed with had traveled across the U.S. with her husband by car.
I used to ask backpackers where they have been in the US.
Many of them would list itineraries like:
- New York City
- Miami
- Saint Louis
- Las Vegas
- Grand Canyon
- Los Angeles
Many of the backpackers never leave the big cities. I think they are missing a lot.
Do non-Americans have any desire to visit the US? What would draw foreign travelers to the US aside from Broadway and Hollywood?
There is a lot to see in the US. National parks, outdoor adventure, American culture (e.g., Jazz or other music), history, native cultures... I think there are many attractions that would interest backpackers.
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