Americans In Australia Forum

For Second Year Italy is Top Choice For Vacations

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These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,183 adults surveyed online between July 11 and 18, 2011 by Harris Interactive .

This year Great Britain comes in at the number 2 spot, followed by Australia in 3rd.  This is the lowest ranking Australia has seen since this question was first asked in 1997; last year and in 2008 Australia was 2nd on the list and every other year until now it has been 1st.  Rounding out this year's top 5 are Ireland (4) and France (5).  

Greece holds steady at its ranking of 6 from last year, while it seems Spain has become slightly more popular, moving up from 9 last year, and 10 before that, to 7 this year.  Germany has dropped from a tie for 6th last year to 8 this year, and Japan dropped one spot to number 9.  America's neighbor to the north, Canada, comes in at number 10 this year, followed by the much farther away New Zealand, at number 11.  Rounding out the top 15 vacation destinations are Switzerland (12), Israel (13), and returning to the list after an absence last year is Brazil at 14 and China at 15; China was last in the top 15, also at number 15, 4 years ago.

Mexico and the Netherlands dropped off of the top 15 list this year – they were listed at 13 and 14, respectively, last year.

Looking at the chosen countries for vacation, over half of Americans would choose somewhere in Europe (53%), two in five would choose to go to a country in Asia or the Pacific region (19%) while one in ten prefer a country in the Americas or Caribbean (10%).  Much smaller numbers say they would choose to vacation in a Middle Eastern country (2%) or Africa (2%) while 3% say they would not leave the U.S. and 6% are not sure where they would choose to go.

Not surprisingly, different groups of people have different vacation priorities.  While the top vacation destination for both men and women is Italy, the rest of their top 5 falls out somewhat differently: for men the 2nd top pick is Australia, followed by Great Britain (3) and then France & Spain (which are tied for 4th).  The female top 5 list includes Great Britain (2), Ireland (3), Australia (4) and France (5).  There seems to be an age divide in vacation preferences as well – younger Americans including Echo Boomers, aged 18-34, and Gen X, aged 34-46, both say Italy is their top pick, while for older Americans—Baby Boomers, aged 47-65, and Matures, aged 66 and over—the top pick is Great Britain.

Observations of American pop culture from Australia - Forum - The ...

When living in America, all we get is America.

Our television shows are American, our music is American and our books are American. Occasionally, a BBC show will be a hit, like "Planet Earth," and a British band will make it big in American mainstream music, like Coldplay. But on the whole, Americans mostly absorb our own, homegrown pop culture.

The rest of the world, however, is very different.

At the moment, I'm studying as an exchange student in Melbourne, Australia, through Oregon University System, a program that allows students to study abroad and on exchange in a variety of countries. I've only been here for about a week, but three of those days were spent at a

Whenever the radio was turned on, familiar tunes wafted through the air. Katy Perry singing "California Girls" and Lady Gaga's "Edge of Glory," were merrily blasting through the car speakers just as they did before I left. The general rule is that if you've made it big in America, you've made it big in the English-speaking world too — seems so.

But before dismissing these observations as mere narcissism and rushed conclusions over three days, consider the fact that I am also staying with an Australian family.

At first, I assumed that I would have to adjust to hearing accents on the radio, and perhaps different musical artists on the "top hits" types of shows. Instead, to my surprise, the voices of the characters on "That '70s Show" can often be heard from the living room, as well as reruns of "Chuck" and "The wore wide-brimmed hats, were comfortable handling ridiculously poisonous animals and wore thick boots, khaki shorts and collared, button-down tan shirts. In reality, Australia is very different.

Furthermore, it's rather interesting to see that although many foreigners have no problem consuming our media and pop culture, they also love to bash on American politics. I suppose I'm not the biggest politically minded person, but it is interesting to watch foreigners complain about America only to go home later and watch the entire last season of "Gossip Girl" on their computers.

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