EU and US Regions' Vacation Spending As Percent of Per Capita GDP in 2015

The chart above shows the average vacation expenditures for overnight stays by EU and US region as proportion of per capita GDP.  There is a greater discrepancy in vacation spending between regions when per capita GDP is accounted for in the EU than there is in the US.

Findings

• The difference between the region with the greatest vacation spending as proportion of per capita GDP, the Eastern EU, and the region with the least, the Northern EU, is 0.92 percentage points.
• The Eastern EU has 2.49 times the average vacation expenditures as percent of per capita GDP that the Northern EU does.
• EU regions vacation spending as a proportion of per capita GDP ranges from 0.61% to 1.53%.
• US regions vacation spending as a proportion of per capita GDP ranges from 1.16% to 1.28%.

Caveats

• All figures are rounded to the nearest hundredth.
• United Kingdom vacation spending data is from 2013, all other data is from 2015.
• US vacation spending data is for domestic travel only.  International travel spending as percent of per capita GDP for US regions is 7.20% for the Midwest, 7.08% for the West, 6.62% for the South, and 6.54% for the Northeast.
• EU and US data come from different sources.
• The Eastern EU consists of Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
• The Midwestern US consists of Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
• The Western US consists of California, Washington, Colorado, Arizona, Oregon, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Hawaii, Idaho, Alaska, Montana, and Wyoming.
• The Southern EU consists of Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, and Malta.
• The Southern US consists of Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Louisiana, South Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, and West Virginia.
• The Northeastern US consists of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Delaware, Maine, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
• The Western EU consists of Germany, United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Ireland, and Luxembourg.
• The Northern EU consists of Sweden, Denmark, and Finland.

Details

As a whole, US regions spend more than EU regions do on vacations, but when per capita GDP is accounted for, all four US regions only outspend the Western and Northern EU.

The difference between the highest and lowest spending EU regions is 0.92 percentage points whereas in the US the difference between highest and lowest is only 0.12 percentage points.  The US has been a singular superstate for far longer than the EU has which would be a large contributing factor to this and the EU also has one region that up until three decades ago still had a very different economic system to the other three regions.  However, if the Eastern EU were to be excluded, the difference between highest and lowest spending regions in the EU would still be pretty high at 0.57 percentage points (four-and-three-quarters times higher than the US difference).

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.

Eurostat.  2018.  "Eurostat - Tables, Graphs and Maps Interface."  Accessed June 26, 2018.  http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/tgm/table.do?tab=table&init=1&language=en&pcode=tec00001&plugin=1.

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.

US Department of Commerce.  2018.  "US Bureau of Economic Analysis."  Accessed June 26, 2018.  https://bea.gov/itable/iTable.cfm?ReqID=70&step=1#reqid=70&step=10&isuri=1&7003=1000&7035=-1&7004=naics&7005=1&7006=01000,02000,04000,05000,06000,08000,09000,10000,11000,12000,13000,15000,16000,17000,18000,19000,20000,21000,22000,23000,24000,25000,26000,27000,28000,29000,30000,31000,32000,33000,34000,35000,36000,37000,38000,39000,40000,41000,42000,44000,45000,46000,47000,48000,49000,50000,51000,53000,54000,55000,56000&7036=-1&7001=11000&7002=1&7090=70&7007=2017,2016,2015,2014,2013,2012,2011,2010,2009,2008,2007,2006&7093=levels.