Where Americans are traveling

When Americans leave home-sweet-home for other countries, they have some favorites.
Japan was big with travelers from 2015 to 2016, experiencing a 16.6 percent hike in American visitors. According to Euromonitor, this could reflect a weak yen that makes travel cheaper.

South America is a big winner for American travelers. Brazil successfully capitalized on the Olympics to increase travel by 10.5 percent. Travel across South America is brisk, except for Venezuela. Venezuela, in the grip of a failed socialist government, is suffering economic collapse, and with it starvation, violence and kidnappings. Tourism is down by 7.2 percent there.

Russian and China also have robust American tourism, up more than 10 percent.
In the Mideast, Iran has been a tourism winner with 11.5 percent increase since sanctions have been lifted.

But, most of the Mideast, is not a vacation friendly locale. Tourism to Egypt is down 16.5 percent, which is actually better than it has been in the lasts few years.