United States of America Holiday Inn Club Vacations At Orange Lake Resort 4 stars Kissimmee

This resort spans more than 1,400 acres and is adjacent to the Walt Disney World Resort. River Island water park's 366 m lazy river, and water slides are 5 minutes' drive away from villas and suites. Jet-skiing is possible on the lake, and 4 golf courses are on site. Guests can also enjoy 3 arcades, a miniature golf course, and free transfer service across the property. Free WiFi, a kitchen or kitchenette, and an en suite are standard every Holiday Inn Club Vacations At Orange Lake Resort villa and suite. Some villas and suites have a sofa bed. Orange Lake Resort has 8 restaurants, which include River Island Grilling Company and Legacy Sports Bar & Grill. Caribbean and American dishes are served, and some restaurants hold live performances. Orange Lake Holiday Inn Club Vacations is less than 22.4 km from Seaworld and less than 28.8 km from the Universal Orlando Resort. Solo travelers in particular like the location – they rated it 9 for a one-person stay. This property is also rated for the best value in Kissimmee! Guests are getting more for their money when compared to other properties in this city. This is a list of the most popular individual tourist attractions in the United States, lists of tourist attractions organized by subject region, and a selection of other notable tourist attractions and destinations. Contents 1 Top tourist attractions 1.1 Landmarks 1.2 Natural monuments 1.3 Sports 2 Hotels 3 Lists of tourist attractions in the United States 3.1 Lists by type of attraction 3.2 Lists by city or region 3.3 Other tourist attractions and destinations 4 Former tourist attractions 5 See also 6 Notes 7 References Top tourist attractions Main article: Tourism in the United States In 2011, the most visited tourist attractions in the U.S. were: Place Location Visitors (millions)[1] Times Square New York, New York 41.9 Central Park New York, New York 40 Union Station Washington, D.C. 36.5 Las Vegas Strip Las Vegas, Nevada 29.5 Grand Central Terminal New York, New York 21.6 Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World Orlando, Florida 17.1 Disneyland Resort Anaheim, California 16.1 Golden Gate Bridge San Francisco Bay Area, California 15 Faneuil Hall Marketplace Boston, Massachusetts 15 Golden Gate Park San Francisco, California 13 Balboa Park San Diego, California 13 Epcot, Walt Disney World Orlando, Florida 10.8 Pike Place Market Seattle, Washington 10 Disney's Animal Kingdom, Walt Disney World Orlando, Florida 10.4 Disney's Hollywood Studios, Walt Disney World Orlando, Florida 9.7 Great Smoky Mountains National Park North Carolina and Tennessee 9 South Street Seaport New York, New York 9 Mackinac Bridge St. Ignace and Mackinaw City, Michigan 9 Navy Pier Chicago, Illinois 8.7 Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf San Francisco, California 8.1 Landmarks As of 2007, there are 2,462 registered National Historic Landmarks (NHL) recognized by the United States government.[2] Each major US city has thousands of landmarks. For example, New York City has 23,000 landmarks designated by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. These landmarks include various individual buildings, interiors, historic districts, and scenic sites which help define the culture and character of New York City.[3] Natural monuments There are many natural monuments in the United States and they are a large tourist venue. Sports Main article: Sports in the United States Sporting events and their associated venues make up a significant percentage of tourist dollars in the US. Estimates of the US sports industry's size vary from $213 billion[4] to $410 billion.[5] In 1997, 25% of tourism receipts in the United States were related to sports tourism; this would have valued the market at approximately $350 billion annually.[6] Many US sporting events routinely attract international visitors. The 1997 New York City Marathon attracted 12,000 participants from outside the US, out of 28,000 participants.[7] Hotels Main article: List of hotels in the United States Hotels can be both housing for tourists visiting a particular region or city, and destinations themselves, with many hotels having historic and cultural status. Lists of tourist attractions in the United States Lists by type of attraction Art museums List of botanical gardens and arboretums in the United States Amusement parks List of aquaria in the United States Beaches List of casinos in the United States List of castles in the United States List of festivals in the United States Mexican fiestas in the United States List of heritage railroads in the United States List of museums in the United States List of areas in the National Park System: National Battlefield Parks National Historic Parks National Lakeshores National Military Parks National Monuments National Parks National Recreation Areas National Seashores List of National Wildlife Refuges of the United States List of nature centers in the United States List of open-air and living history museums in the United States List of Renaissance fairs List of shopping malls in the United States List of ski areas and resorts in the United States List of auto racing tracks in the United States List of indoor arenas in the United States List of NASCAR tracks Seaside resorts List of U.S. stadiums by capacity Tennis venues reenactment sites List of U.S. National Forests List of U.S. state parks List of zoos in the United States Wine festivals Lists by city or region Tourist attractions by city, see: Category:Tourist attractions in the United States by city. List of attractions and events in Indianapolis List of attractions and events in the Louisville metropolitan area List of Orlando, Florida attractions Attractions in Silicon Valley, California List of Wilderness Areas in the Adirondack Park List of lands at Disney theme parks List of attractions and events in Jacksonville, Florida Other tourist attractions and destinations Atlantic City, New Jersey, and the Boardwalk California's Wine Country Richmond Strip, Houston, Texas The French Quarter, New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans Mardi Gras, Louisiana Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco Hollywood, California Outer Banks of North Carolina Pennsylvania Dutch Country Pocono Mountains, Pennsylvania Salem, Massachusetts Alamo Mission in San Antonio, Texas Hanauma Bay, Hawaii Key West, Florida Aspen, Colorado Miami, Florida Former tourist attractions Borscht Belt, New York Salton Sea, California World Trade Center, New York includes both densely populated cities with sprawling suburbs and vast, uninhabited natural areas. With its history of mass immigration dating from the 17th century, it is a "melting pot" of cultures from around the world and plays a dominant role in the world's cultural landscape. It's home to a wide array of popular tourist destinations, ranging from the skyscrapers of Manhattan and Chicago to the natural wonders of Yellowstone and Alaska, to the warm, sunny beaches of Florida, Hawaii and Southern California. Understand "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." — Mark Twain The United States can not be defined solely by television and movies. It is large, complex, and diverse, with several distinct regional identities. Due to the vast distances involved, travelling between regions often means crossing through many different landscapes, climates, and even time zones. Such travel can often be time-consuming and expensive but is often very rewarding. Geography The contiguous United States or the "Lower 48" (the 48 states other than Alaska and Hawaii) is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west, with much of the population living on the two coasts. Its land borders are shared with Canada to the north, and Mexico to the south. The US also shares maritime borders with Russia, Cuba, and the Bahamas. If counting the Insular Areas and Minor Outlying Islands, the United Kingdom, Samoa, and Haiti would also share maritime borders. The country has three major mountain ranges. The Appalachians extend from Canada to the state of Alabama, a few hundred miles west of the Atlantic Ocean. They are the oldest of the three mountain ranges and are covered with a diversity of Subtropical and Temperate flora and fauna, a thick canopy of dense vegetation. They offer spectacular sightseeing and excellent camping spots. The loess lands of the southern Mid-West and the Limestone cliffs and mountains of the south add beauty to the region, with lush vegetation coating the surfaces of cliff faces that border rivers, and mist shrouding beautiful green mountains and gorges. The Rockies are, on average, the tallest in North America, extending from Alaska to New Mexico, with many areas protected as national parks. They offer hiking, camping, skiing, and sightseeing opportunities, as well as desert and subtropical getaways in the southern lowlands of the region. The combined Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges are the youngest. The Sierras extend across the "backbone" of California, with sites such as Lake Tahoe and Yosemite National Park; the Sierras transition at their northern end into the even younger volcanic Cascade range, with some of the highest points in the country. The Great Lakes define much of the border between the eastern United States and Canada. More inland seas than lakes, they were formed by the pressure of glaciers retreating north at the end of the last Ice Age. The five lakes span hundreds of miles, bordering the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York, and their shores vary from pristine wilderness areas to industrial "rust belt" cities. They are the second-largest bodies of freshwater in the world, after the polar ice caps. The southwestern portions of the USA are rugged and contain arid landscapes, complete with wind-shaped desert sand dunes like White Sands, New Mexico. In California, Death Valley is the lowest spot on the USA mainland (282 feet below sea level) and is one of the hottest places on Earth. Natural areas include vast areas of desert untouched by humans. Camping and hiking through the majestic landscapes of the Southwest is a big vacation draw for many Americans. Florida is very low-lying, with long white sand beaches lining both sides of the state. The tropical climate enables many exotic (both native and non-native) plants and animals to flourish. The Florida Everglades are a pristine "river of grass," made up of Tropical jungles and savanna are home to 20-foot alligators and crocodiles, among many other creatures. The USA contains every biome on earth. The USA has something for everyone; tropical jungles, subtropical and temperate savannas, searing deserts, Mediterranean-like coast lines, frozen mountain peaks, coniferous forest, steamy subtropical river system, and more. Grand Tetons, Rocky Mountains, Wyoming Climate The climate of the continental United States varies considerably across the country due to differences in latitude and various geographic features. Much of the Eastern United States has a humid continental or subtropical climate, with four distinct seasons. The Southeast has mild winters and hot humid summers. The Northeast and Midwest have much colder winters with frequent snowfalls and periods with snow on the ground. During hurricane season, which is from June to November, tropical storms and hurricanes have been known to make landfall in coastal regions of the eastern US, resulting in widespread damaging winds and flooding, and causing numerous travel delays. Farther west, the Great Plains are dry, flat and grassy, and are subtropical/semi arid in Kansas and regions south, and dry continental north of Kansas. The Great Plains are notoriously well known for their tornado season, which lasts from March to June. These severe weather outbreaks can also cause very large hail, damaging winds, and flooding. Severe weather in the Great Plains is often forecast days in advance by meteorologists and reported by local news stations via TV and social media. The Western United States is mostly mountainous hilly terrain, and has a mostly arid climate with mild to warm winters and hot summers. Parts of Arizona and New Mexico have a monsoon season which lasts from June to September. Frequent training thunderstorms often occur in this area during the summer, which can result in flooding. Dust storms can also occur, caused by downdrafts of a decaying thunderstorm. Coastal California and Oregon, from San Diego to Portland, is considered Mediterranean, and consists of warm winters and warm to hot summers. A cooler variation of the Mediterranean, also known as a maritime climate, can be found in the Pacific Northwest including coastal Washington. Hawaii, most of Florida, and far southern Texas have a tropical climate. Other areas in the south have a substantial amount of tropical microclimates. Central and northern Alaska features a subarctic climate with short mild summers and long very cold winters. The least variation of climate in the continental United States occurs during the summer, when much of the nation is toasting in 70 to 90 degree (21-32°C) weather. Valleys in the Western United States often see the highest temperatures in the nation, along with many days and sometimes weeks of very dry weather. San Francisco and coastal Washington have the coolest summers in the Western United States excluding alpine regions of eastern California and Colorado. The greatest difference in climate from region to region occurs during the winter season, which is December to March, when temperatures can range from below 0 degrees (-18°C) in the Northern Great Plains, to a much milder 70 or even 80 degrees (21°C) in Florida. Long stretches of below freezing temperatures are common during the winter season across the Northern Midwest and Northern Northeast, getting milder as you travel south. and travelers should prepare to dress accordingly. History The Alamo, San Antonio, Texas What is now the United States was initially populated by indigenous peoples who migrated from northeast Asia. Today, their descendants are known as Native Americans, or American Indians. Although Native Americans are often portrayed as having lived a mundane and primitive lifestyle which consisted of day to day survival, the truth is that prior to European contact, the continent was densely populated by many sophisticated societies. For example, the Cherokee are descended from the Mississippian culture which built huge mounds and large towns that covered the landscape, while the Anasazi built elaborate cliff-side towns in the Southwest. As was the case in other nations in the Americas, the primitive existence attributed to Native Americans was generally the result of mass die-offs triggered by Old World diseases such as smallpox which spread like wildfire in the 15th and 16th centuries. By the time most Native American tribes directly encountered Europeans, they were a post-apocalyptic people. During the late 16th and 17th centuries, multiple European nations began colonizing the North American continent. Spain, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Russia established colonies in various parts of present day continental United States. Of those early settlements, it was the original British colonies in Virginia and Massachusetts that formed the cultural, political, legal and economic core of what is now the United States. Massachusetts was first settled by religious immigrants, known as Puritans, who later spread and founded most of the other New England colonies, creating a highly religious and idealistic region. Its neighbor to the southwest, Rhode Island, was founded by refugees from the religious fanatics of Massachusetts. Other religious groups also founded colonies, including the Quakers in Pennsylvania and Roman Catholics in Maryland. Virginia, on the other hand, became the most dominant of the southern colonies. Because of a longer growing season, these colonies had richer agricultural prospects, specifically cotton and tobacco. As in Central and South America, African slaves were imported and forced to cultivate in large plantations. Slavery became an important part of the economy in the South, a fact that would cause tremendous upheaval in the years to come. By the early 18th century, the United Kingdom had established a number of colonies along the Atlantic coast from Georgia north into what is now Canada. On July 4th, 1776, colonists from the Thirteen Colonies, frustrated with excessive taxation and micromanagement by London and encouraged by the ideals of Enlightenment philosophy, declared independence from the UK and established a new sovereign nation, the United States of America. The resulting American Revolutionary War culminated in the surrender of 7,000 British troops at the Battle of Yorktown in 1781. This forced the British government to initiate peace negotiations that led to the Treaty of Paris of 1783, by which the victorious Americans assumed control of all British land south of the Great Lakes between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mississippi River. British loyalists, known as Tories, fled north of the Great Lakes into Canada, which remained stubbornly loyal to the British crown and would not become fully independent until 1982. Although the Thirteen Colonies had united during the war in support of the common objective of getting rid of British tyranny, most colonists' loyalties at the end of the war lay with their respective colonial governments. In turn, the young country's first attempt at establishing a national government under the Articles of Confederation was a disastrous failure. The Articles tried too hard to protect the colonies from each other by making the national government so weak it could not do anything. In 1787, a convention of major political leaders (the Founding Fathers of the United States) drafted a new national Constitution in Philadelphia. After ratification by a supermajority of the states, the new Constitution went into effect in 1791 and enabled the establishment of the strong federal government that has governed the United States ever since. George Washington, the commanding general of American forces during the Revolutionary War, was elected as the first President of the United States under the new Constitution. By the turn of the 19th century, a national capital had been established in Washington, D.C.. As American and European settlers pushed farther west, past the Appalachians, the federal government began organizing new territories and then admitting them as new states. This was enabled by the displacement and decimation of the Native American populations through warfare and disease. In what became known as the Trail of Tears, the Cherokee tribe was forcibly relocated from the Southeastern United States to present-day Oklahoma, which was known as "Indian Territory" until the early 20th century. The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 brought French-owned territory extending from the Mississippi River to parts of the present-day Western United States under American control, effectively doubling the country's land area. The United States fought the War of 1812 with Britain as a reaction to British impressment of American sailors, as well as to attempt to capture parts of Canada. Though dramatic battles were fought, including one that ended with the British Army burning the White House, Capitol, and other public buildings in Washington, D.C., the war ended in a virtual stalemate. Territorial boundaries between the two nations remained nearly the same. Nevertheless, the war had disastrous consequences for the western Native American tribes that had allied with the British, with the United States acquiring more and more of their territory for white settlers. Florida was purchased in 1813 from Spain after the American military had effectively subjugated the region. The next major territorial acquisition came after American settlers in Texas rebelled against the Mexican government, setting up a short-lived independent republic that was absorbed into the union. The Mexican-American War of 1848 resulted in acquisition of the northern territories of Mexico, including the future states of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. After 1850, the borders of the continental United States reached the rough outlines it still has today. Many Native Americans were relegated to reservations by treaty, military force, and by the inadvertent spread of European diseases transmitted by large numbers of settlers moving west along the Oregon Trail and other routes. Tensions between the US and the British government administering Canada continued to persist because the border west of the Great Lakes was ill-defined. The Oregon Treaty of 1846 failed to adequately address the complex geography of the region; the boundary dispute remained unsettled until 1871. Meanwhile, by the late 1850s, many Americans were calling for the abolition of slavery. The rapidly industrializing North, where slavery had been outlawed several decades before, favored national abolition. Southern states, on the other hand, believed that individual states had the right to decide whether or not slavery should be legal. In 1861, the Southern states, fearing domination by the North and the Republican President Nominee Abraham Lincoln, seceded from the Union and formed the breakaway Confederate States of America. These events sparked the American Civil War. To date, it is the bloodiest conflict on American soil, with over 200,000 killed in combat and a overall death toll exceeding 600,000. In 1865, Union forces prevailed, thereby cementing the federal government's authority over the states. The federal government then launched a complex process of rehabilitation and re-assimilation of the Confederacy, a period known as Reconstruction. Slavery was abolished by constitutional amendment, but the former slaves and their descendants were to remain an economic and social underclass, particularly in the South. The United States purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867, and the previously independent Hawaii was annexed in 1898 after a brief revolution fomented by American settlers. After decisively defeating Spain in the Spanish-American War, the United States gained its first "colonial" territories: Cuba (granted independence a few years later), the Philippines (granted independence shortly after World War II), Puerto Rico and Guam (which remain American dependencies today). During this "imperialist" phase of US history, the US also assisted Panama in obtaining independence from Colombia, as the need for a Panama Canal had become palpably clear to the US during the Spanish-American War. In 1903, the new country of Panama promptly granted the United States control over a swath of territory known as the Canal Zone. The US constructed the Panama Canal in 1914 and retained control over the Canal Zone until 1979. In the eastern cities of the United States, Southern and Eastern Europeans, and Russian Jews joined Irish refugees to become a cheap labor force for the country's growing industrialization. Many African-Americans fled rural poverty in the South for industrial jobs in the North, in what is now known as the Great Migration. Other immigrants, including many Scandinavians and Germans, moved to the now-opened territories in the West and Midwest, where land was available for free to anyone who would develop it. A network of railroads was laid across the country, accelerating development. With its entrance into World War I in 1917, the United States established itself as a world power by helping to defeat Germany and the Central Powers. However after the war, despite strong support from President Woodrow Wilson, the United States refused to join the newly-formed League of Nations, which substantially hindered that body's effectiveness in preventing future conflicts. Real wealth grew rapidly in the postwar period. During the Roaring Twenties, stock speculation created an immense "bubble" which, when it burst in October 1929, contributed to a period of economic havoc in the 1930s known as the Great Depression. The Depression was brutal and devastating, with unemployment rising to 25%. On the other hand, it helped forge a culture of sacrifice and hard work that would serve the country well in its next conflict. President Herbert Hoover lost his re-election bid in 1932 as a result of his ineffective response to the Depression. The victor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ("FDR") pledged himself to a "New Deal" for the American people, which came in the form of a variety of aggressive economic recovery programs. While historians still debate the effectiveness of the various New Deal programs in terms of whether they fulfilled their stated objectives, it is generally undisputed that the New Deal greatly expanded the size and role of the US federal government. In December 1941, the Empire of Japan surprise attacked Pearl Harbor, a American military base in Hawaii, plunging the United States into World War II, a war which had already been raging in Europe for two years and in Asia since 1937. Joining the Allied Powers, the United States helped to defeat the Axis powers of Italy, Germany, and Japan. By the end of World War II, with much of Europe and Asia in ruins, the United States had firmly established itself as the dominant economic power in the world; it was then responsible for nearly half of the world's industrial production. The newly developed atomic bomb, whose power was demonstrated in two bombings of Japan in 1945, made the United States the only force capable of challenging the Communist Soviet Union, giving rise to what is now known as the Cold War. After World War II, America experienced an economic resurgence and growing affluence on a scale not seen since the 1920s. Meanwhile, the racism traditionally espoused in various explicit and implicit forms by the European-American majority against the country's African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic-American, Native American, and other minority populations had become impossible to ignore. While the US was attempting to spread democracy and the rule of law abroad to counter the Soviet Union's support of authoritarian Communist governments, it found itself having to confront its own abysmal failure to provide the benefits of democracy and the rule of law to all of its own citizens. However, in the 1960s a civil rights movement emerged which ultimately eliminated most of the institutional discrimination against African-Americans and other ethnic minorities, particularly in the Southern states. A revived women's movement in the 1970s also led to wide-ranging changes in gender roles and perceptions in US society, including to a limited extent views on homosexuality and bisexuality. The more organized present-era US 'gay rights' movement first emerged in the late 1960s and early 70s. During the same period, in the final quarter of the 20th century, the United States underwent a slow but inexorable transition from an economy based on a mixture of heavy industry and labor-intensive agriculture, to an economy primarily based on advanced technology (the "high-tech" industry), retail, professional services, and other service industries, as well as a highly mechanized, automated agricultural industry. In the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, millions of US manufacturing jobs fell victim to outsourcing. In a phenomenon since labeled "global labor arbitrage," revolutionary improvements in transportation, communications, and logistics technologies made it possible to relocate manufacturing of most goods to foreign factories which did not have to pay US minimum wages, observe US occupational safety standards, or allow the formation of unions. The outsourcing revolution was devastating to many cities, particularly in the Midwest and Northeast, whose economies were overly dependent upon manufacturing, and resulted in a group of hollowed-out, depressed cities now known as the Rust Belt. The United States also assumed and continues to maintain a position of global leadership in military and aerospace technology through the development of a powerful "military-industrial complex", although as of the turn of the 21st century, its leadership is increasingly being challenged by the European Union and China. US federal investments in military technology also paid off handsomely in the form of the most advanced information technology sector in the world, which is primarily centered on the area of Northern California known as Silicon Valley. US energy firms, especially those based in petroleum and natural gas, have also become global giants, as they expanded worldwide to feed the country's thirst for cheap energy. The 1950s saw the beginnings of a major shift of population from rural towns and urban cores to the suburbs. These population shifts, along with a changing economic climate, contributed heavily to Urban decay from the 1970s until the late 1990s. The postwar rise of a prosperous middle class able to afford cheap automobiles and cheap gasoline in turn led to the rise of the American car culture and the convenience of fast food restaurants. The Interstate Highway System, constructed primarily from the 1960s to the 1980s, became the most comprehensive freeway system in the world, at over 47,000 miles in length. It was surpassed by China only in 2011, although the US is believed to still have a larger freeway system when non-federal-aid highways are also included. In the late 20th century, the US was also a leader in the development and deployment of the modern passenger jetliner. This culminated in the development of the popular Boeing 737 and 747 jetliners; the 737 is still the world's most popular airliner today. Cheap air transportation together with cheap cars in turn devastated US passenger rail, although freight rail remained financially viable. In 1970, with the consent of the railroads, who were eager to focus their operations on carrying freight, Congress nationalized their passenger rail operations to form the government-owned corporation now known as Amtrak. During the 20th century, the US retail sector became the strongest in the world. US retailers were the first to pioneer many innovative concepts that later spread around the world, including self-service supermarkets, inventory bar codes to ease the tedium of accurately tallying purchases, "big box" chain stores, factory outlet stores, warehouse club stores, and modern shopping centers. American consumer culture, as well as Hollywood movies and many forms of popular music, books, and art, all combined to establish the United States as the cultural center of the world. American universities established themselves as the most prestigious academic institutions in the world, thanks to generous assistance from the federal government in the form of the GI Bill, followed by massive research and development investments by the military-industrial complex, and later, the Higher Education Act. Today, US universities are rivaled only by a handful of universities in the UK, mainland Europe, and Asia. Government and politics The United States is a federal republic comprising 50 states, the District of Columbia (Washington DC), 16 territories, and numerous Indian Reservations. The federal government derives its power from the Constitution of the United States, the oldest written constitution in the world in continuous use. Although federal law supersedes state law in the event of an express or implied conflict (known in legal jargon as "federal preemption"), each state is considered to be a separate sovereign, maintains its own constitution and government, and retains considerable autonomy within the federation. State citizens enjoy the power to vote for federal representatives, federal senators, and the federal President. The United States has two major political parties, the Republicans and Democrats, that dominate American politics at all levels. Due to the winner-take-all electoral system, smaller "third parties" as they are known to Americans are rarely competitive in any elections at any level, and the Democrats and Republicans have won every single presidential election since 1848. The Republican and Democratic dominant leads to a heavily criticized and frequently corrupt system of "pork-barrel politics" where necessary change is too-often subject to deadlock and bi-partisan point scoring. Americans value their rights to political expression strongly, and politics are fiercely debated in American society. In fact, there are many popular web sites and cable channels devoted primarily to political opinion programming. American politics are very complex and change quickly. For example, gay people were not allowed to marry in any US state as recently as 2003, whereas gay marriage is now legal in all 50 states since 2015. Many Americans hold and passionately defend strong opinions on a wide range of political issues, many Americans, especially older Americans, are loyal to one party, and political debates often become heated and lead to insults, vulgarities, and personal attacks being exchanged. For these reasons, unless you are intimately familiar with American politics or already know and agree with the political views of the person you are talking to, you are best off not talking about politics at all. American elections are frequent and lengthy, especially the presidential election. Presidential elections in the United States last nearly two years, so there is a 50% chance that you will be visiting the United States in the midst of one. The November election is preceded by a six-month period from January to June wherein all 50 states, 5 overseas territories, and D.C. each vote one-by-one twice; one time to select the Republican nominee, and the other to select the Democratic nominee. One of these two nominees will be elected President in November. The current president is Donald Trump. He was elected in November 2016 and sworn in on January 20th, 2017. Federal elections for Congressional positions take place every two years. Compared to Western European Democracies, there are an extraordinary number of elected positions in the United States. On a single election day, there might be simultaneous elections for dozens of positions. Typically, the average American would be voting for school board members, city councilmen, mayors, deputy mayors, governors, state representatives, state senators, congressmen, senators, the president, and a number of other positions, such as tax assessor or coroner. The President of the United States is elected indirectly every four years and serves as the head of government and head of state. Each state is allocated electoral votes, and whichever candidate gets the most votes in a state get all of that state's electoral votes. Though rare, this means that a candidate can win the "electoral vote" and thus the presidency while gaining fewer popular votes than his opponent. Most recently, this happened in the 2000 and 2016 presidential elections. The Congress is bicameral; the lower House of Representatives has seats assigned to the states proportionally, while the upper house, the Senate, comprises exactly two seats per state. By way of contrast, the District of Columbia and the overseas territories have limited federal representation, as they can only elect "delegates" to the federal House of Representatives who cannot participate in votes by the Committee of the Whole on the House floor. (D.C. does, however, get three electoral votes with respect to the election of the federal President.) Because they lack state sovereignty, the governments of D.C. and the territories exist at the mercy of the federal government, which theoretically could dissolve them at any time. The laws and legal systems of the U.S. will be complicated at best to understand and follow. State and territorial laws can vary widely from one jurisdiction to another, meaning that the US actually consists of at least 54 separate legal systems with regard to any area of law not within the purview of federal law. State and territorial laws are quite uniform in some areas (e.g., contracts for sales of goods) and extremely divergent in others (e.g., "real estate," the American term for immovable property). If this was not confusing enough, sovereign Native American tribes are allowed to operate their own legal systems separate from both federal and state law. What's more, the U.S. federal government practices the use of Federal Enclaves. Which are pieces of land or properties owned by the Federal government under a agreement of the state or territory. A example are U.S. national forests. As Federal owned land and property, most state and territorial laws do not apply. Examples are state and territorial anti-discrimination, minimum wage, and criminal laws. While state and territorial laws such as juvenile delinquency, restraining order laws still apply. The federal government consists of the President of the United States and his administration acting as the executive branch, the United States Congress acting as the legislative branch, and the Supreme Court of the United States and lower federal courts acting as the judicial branch. State government structures are organized similarly, with governors, legislatures, and judiciaries. Culture The South's famous Bourbon Street, New Orleans, Louisiana The United States is made up of many diverse ethnic groups and its culture varies greatly across the vast area of the country and even within cities - a city like New York will have dozens, if not hundreds, of different ethnicities represented within a neighborhood. Despite this difference, there exists a strong sense of national identity and certain predominant cultural traits. Generally, Americans tend to believe strongly in personal responsibility and that an individual determines his or her own success or failure, but it is important to note that there are many exceptions and that a nation as diverse as the United States has literally thousands of distinct cultural traditions. One will find South Carolina in the South to be different culturally from New Hampshire in New England. Holidays The United States has a number of holidays — official and/or cultural — of which the traveler should be aware of. Note that holidays observed on Mondays or Fridays are usually treated as weekend-long events. (A weekend consists of a Saturday and a Sunday.) Federal holidays — i.e., holidays observed by the federal government, state and local government and banks — are indicated in bold italics. If a federal holiday with a fixed calendar date (such as Independence Day) falls on a weekend, federal and most state and local government offices will be closed on the nearest non-weekend day. Since the early 1970s, several federal holidays, including Memorial Day and Labor Day, have been observed on a certain Monday rather than on a fixed date for the express purpose of giving federal employees three-day weekends. Foreign embassies & consulates in the U.S. also observe the same federal holidays (in bold italics) in addition to the official holidays of their respective countries. The private sector (besides banks) are usually open for business on most holidays with people working except New Years, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, the Friday after Thanksgiving and Christmas when a vast number of non-retail businesses do close or open partial hours in observance. Due to the number of major holidays in close proximity to each other, many Americans refer to the period between Thanksgiving in late November and New Year's Day as simply "the holidays." School and work vacations are commonly taken during this periods: New Year's Day (1 January) — most non-retail businesses closed; parades; brunches and football parties. Martin Luther King Day (third Monday in January) — many government offices and banks closed; speeches, especially on African-American history and culture. Chinese New Year (January/February — varies based on the Chinese lunar calendar) — Chinese cultural celebration. Airfare within the U.S. may be reasonable at this time of the year but if planning to fly from the U.S. to China, Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam, Korea and anywhere in that part of the world the seats may be limited and fares higher so plan accordingly. Super Bowl Sunday (usually the first Sunday in February) — The Super Bowl is the annual championship game of the NFL (National Football League) American football league and the most-watched sporting event of the year; supermarkets, bars, restaurants and electronics stores are very busy; big football-watching parties everywhere. Those with the extra money to burn DO travel to the host city where the Super Bowl is happening to attend the game live. This makes travel to that city even more hectic with a limited availability of airline seats, hotel rooms, rental cars and parking spaces at much higher than usual prices. The host city varies annually so plan accordingly if planning to be in the host city on Super Bowl Sunday. Valentine's Day (14 February) — private celebration of romance and love. Most restaurants are crowded; finer restaurants may require reservations made well in advance. Presidents Day (third Monday in February; officially Washington's Birthday) — many government offices and banks closed; many stores have sales. St. Patrick's Day (17 March) — Irish-themed parades and parties. Expect bars to be crowded. They will often feature themed drink specials. The wearing of green or a green accessory is common. Easter (a Sunday in March or April) — Christian religious observances. Depending on location, many restaurants, including franchised outlets of major national chains, may close. Major retailers generally open; smaller shops may or may not close. Passover (varies based on the Jewish calendar, eight days around Easter) — Jewish religious observance. Cinco de Mayo (5 May) — A minor holiday in most of Mexico often incorrectly assumed to be Mexican independence day which is really September the 16th, but nevertheless a major cultural celebration for Mexican-Americans. As with St. Patrick's Day, expect bars to be crowded, frequently with themed drink specials. Memorial Day (last Monday in May) — most non-retail businesses closed; some patriotic observances; trips to beaches and parks; beginning of the traditional beginning of summer tourism season which means jacked up summer prices for rooms and airfare to some places. Independence Day / Fourth of July (4 July) — most non-retail businesses closed; airports and highways crowded; patriotic parades and concerts, cookouts and trips to beaches and parks, fireworks at dusk. Labor Day (first Monday in September) — most non-retail businesses closed; cookouts and trips to beaches and parks; many stores have sales; last day of the traditional ending of summer tourism season which means a better time to plan for travel to or within the U.S. in many places. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (varies based on the Jewish calendar, September or early October) — Jewish religious observances. Columbus Day (second Monday in October) — many government offices and banks closed; some stores have sales. Columbus Day can be controversial, especially among Native Americans, and is not as widely observed as it was in the past. Halloween (31 October) — trick-or-treating, parades, and costume parties. Veterans Day (11 November) — government offices and banks closed; some patriotic observances. Thanksgiving Day (fourth Thursday in November, date varies annually) — almost all businesses closed, including grocery stores and many restaurants; family dinners. Airports and highways are very crowded. The next day, known as "Black Friday," major Christmas shopping traditionally begins. Many non-retail employees are given Friday off or take it as a holiday. If planning to fly within the U.S. during the week of the Thanksgiving holiday and the weekend after plan accordingly as the airfares are jacked up. Hanukkah / Chanukah (varies based on the Jewish calendar, eight days usually in December) — Jewish religious observance, often culturally associated with Christmas. Christmas Eve (24 December)the evening or day before Christmas Day. The mythical character Santa Claus comes during that night to deliver presents. Christmas (25 December) — almost all businesses, grocery stores, and many restaurants closed the evening before and all day. Airports and highways are crowded. Families and close friends exchange gifts; Christian religious observances. If planning to fly within the U.S. and internationally around the Christmas holiday and the week between Christmas and New Years Day plan accordingly as the airfares are jacked up. Kwanzaa (26 December-1 January) — African-American cultural observance. New Year's Eve (31 December) — many restaurants and bars open late; lots of parties, especially in big cities. From a foreign traveler's point of view, there are two major services affected by federal holidays: visas and mail. First, if you are a foreigner who needs to apply for a US visa, it is important to note the federal holidays marked in bold italics. All US embassies worldwide close on those days, in addition to the official holidays of the host country and are unable to process applications on those days. Second, United States Postal Service retail counters are closed on federal holidays, and in high-crime areas, the entire post office stays closed. Self-service kiosks at post offices in relatively safe areas with 24/7 lobby access remain operational through holidays. However, mail deposited at a post office or in a mailbox will not be processed until after the holiday is over. Other federal services like national parks and airport security operate 365 days a year regardless of federal holidays. Many state governments also observe official holidays of their own which are not observed in other states or by the federal government. Units of measure The United States is the only industrialized country that has still not adopted metric units of measure in daily life (it still uses the customary English units that were in use prior to the revolution, similar to the later British imperial system, but typically with smaller units as one of the major differences), except for scientific, engineering, medical, and military applications. All road signs and speed limits are posted in miles and miles per hour respectively. Automotive fuel is priced and sold per gallon. Other capacities of liquid products are normally quoted and sold per gallon, quart, or ounce (although liters are often indicated and sometimes exclusively used, as with some soda, wine, and other liquor products). Temperatures are reported in Fahrenheit only; 32 degrees (with units unspecified) is the temperature at which water freezes (equivalent to 0 degrees Celsius). The good news is that most cars on the road in the US have both mph and km/h marked on their speedometers (good for trips to Canada and Mexico), and almost all groceries and household items sold in stores are labeled in both systems. The vast majority of Americans, though, have little day-to-day exposure to the metric system (apart from having studied it a little in school) and will assume some understanding of customary measures. In addition, the US government does not regulate apparel or shoe sizes. Although there are informal standard sizes, they are not strictly enforced. The only thing you can count on is that sizes tend to be consistent within the same brand. If you plan to shop for apparel or shoes, you will have to do some trial-and-error for each brand to determine what fits, because you cannot rely on any brand's sizes as equivalent to another's. Please note that, as the average body size of Americans tends to be larger than that of those living in other countries, a concept known as vanity sizing (the labeling of larger garments with smaller sizes) exists in many clothing retailers, especially those aimed at women. It is very possible for people with smaller body types to have some difficulty finding suitably sized clothing. Electricity For more information: Electrical systems Electricity in the United States is provided to consumers in the form of 120V, 60Hz alternating current, through wall outlets that take NEMA 1 or NEMA 5 plugs. (NEMA stands for National Electrical Manufacturers Association.) NEMA 1 plugs have two flat, blunt blades (don't worry, they're not sharp), one of which may or may not be polarized (slightly larger than the other), to ensure that the hot and neutral blades are inserted correctly for devices for which that matters. NEMA 5 plugs add a round grounding pin below the blades. All US buildings constructed or renovated after the early 1960s are required to have three-hole outlets that accept the two blades and one pin of NEMA 5 plugs, as well as both polarized and unpolarized NEMA 1 two-blade plugs. The US Virgin Islands uses a slightly lower voltage of 110V. American Samoa uses US plugs, the German Schuko plug, and the Australian standard plug. All of North America, nearly all of the Caribbean and Central America, Venezuela, and Taiwan follow US standards for electricity and plugs. If you are arriving from outside of those areas, you will need to verify whether your electrical devices are compatible with US electricity and plugs. Japan uses the same plugs as the US, but has a unique standard of 100V with frequency of either 50 or 60Hz depending on region. Most of the rest of the world uses 220-230V at 50Hz, for the simple reason that they began large-scale electrification at much later dates than the US and after wire insulation technology had significantly advanced. This meant they could select a higher voltage and lower frequency, which required less conductor material (meaning less use of expensive metals) but at the expense of more insulation and larger, more heavily insulated plugs. Colombia's voltage is 110V and Ecuador's 120-127V but the frequency is the same as the US. Most consumer electronics, computers, and shavers are already designed as "dual voltage" devices capable of accepting voltages from 110V up to 230V and between 50-60Hz. For those devices, a plug adapter is sufficient. Purchase your adapter at home before you depart. Most US stores carry adapters designed to adapt NEMA plugs to other countries' outlets, not the other way around. The differences in voltage and frequency are most frequently an issue for travellers with hair long enough to require the use of a hair dryer for proper hair care. Foreign visitors regularly find their hair dryers to be starved for power in the US; conversely, Americans' hair dryers are regularly burned out and destroyed by high voltages overseas. Apart from doing without or waiting an annoying long time to dry one's hair, the solutions are to either buy a high-wattage transformer capable of stepping up 120V to 220V buy a hair dryer with a switch that allows it to be switched between 110 and 220V buy a cheap US hair dryer for use during your trip; or book hotels that cater to international travellers and place hair dryers in the rooms for this reason. For more information The US federal government sets foreign policy, while the states deal with tourism. As such, the federal government provides the best information about legal requirements for entry, while information about places to visit and see is best provided by state and local tourism bureaus. Contact information is available in the individual state articles. At state borders, highway rest stops sometimes feature visitor centers and often offer travel and tourism information and materials, almost all of which is also available on-line or can be requested in advance by mail. Nearly every rest stop has a posted road map with a clearly indicated "You Are Here" marker. Some also offer free paper road maps to take with you. Note that government tourism bureaus and their Web sites tend to be rather indiscriminate in their recommendations, since for political reasons they cannot be seen as overly favorable towards any particular area within their jurisdiction. Regions The United States is composed of 50 states, various overseas territories, as well as the city of Washington, D.C., a federal district and the nation's capital. Below is a rough grouping of these states into regions, from the Atlantic to the Pacific: Map of the USA New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont) Home to gabled churches, rustic antiques, and steeped in American history, New England offers beaches, spectacular seafood, rugged mountains, frequent winter snows, and some of the nation's oldest cities, in a territory small enough to tour (hastily) in a week. The small town environments have managed to maintain a large degree of autonomy for centuries. Mid-Atlantic (Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania) Ranging from New York in the north to Washington, D.C., the Mid-Atlantic is home to some of the nation's most densely populated cities, as well as historic sites, rolling mountains, the New Jersey Pine Barrens, the Lehigh Valley, and seaside resorts like the Long Island beaches and the Jersey Shore. Bridging New England and the steamy South, the Mid-Atlantic includes some of the most cosmopolitan areas in the world as well as small enclaves of American history. The climate is Subtropical, albeit with chillier winters than in the South. South (Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia) The South is celebrated for its hospitality, down-home cooking and its blues, jazz, rock 'n' roll, and country music traditions. A distinct literature, accents, and religiosity help distinguish Southerners as well. This lush, largely subtropical region includes cool, verdant mountains, waterfalls, temperate, subtropical, and tropical forests and jungles, cave systems hidden in vegetation, mist-shrouded limestone cliffs, alligators, ring-tailed cats, flying squirrels, and armadillos, agricultural plantations of cotton and sugarcane, island escapes, vast cypress swamps, and long white sand beaches. Florida Northern Florida is similar to the rest of the South, but is not so in the resorts of Orlando, retirement communities, tropical Caribbean-influenced Miami, the tropical rainforests and savannas of the rural areas, and 1,200 miles of sandy beaches and tropical islands. An extremely popular tourist attraction, Florida includes some of the nicest attractions that the United States has to offer and is conveniently located in the Caribbean, facilitating travel to exotic islands. Midwest (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin) The Midwest is home to farmland, forests, picturesque towns, industrial cities, and the Great Lakes, the largest system of freshwater lakes in the world, forming the North Coast of the US. Midwesterners are known for their simplicity and hospitality. The Southern Mid-West is distinct from the Northern portion, with cypress swamps and a Subtropical climate to lend diversity to the region. Texas The second biggest state in the nation is like a separate country (and in fact, once was), with strong cultural influences from its Spanish and Mexican past. The state is also a nexus of Southwestern and Southern cultures. The terrain ranges from southeastern subtropical and tropical forests, to the cattle-ranching South Plains, to the sandy beaches and tropical savannas of South Texas, to the mountains and hot deserts of West Texas. Great Plains (North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma) Travel westward through these supposedly flat states, from the edge of the eastern forests through the prairies and onto the High Plains, an enormous expanse of savannas and steppes (short grass prairies) nearly as desolate as in the frontier days. You can enjoy serenity and a beautiful expanse of subtropical/tropical and temperate savanna that's impossible on the coasts, as well as explore the lunar-like badlands, get comfortable in a wild-west town in the middle of the Black Hills, climb the otherworldly red mountains of Oklahoma, gaze at the bizarre chalk and sandstone formations, discover oddities such as grass covered sand dunes, discover animals such as rattlesnakes, coyotes, prairie dogs, constrictor snakes, and pronghorn antelope, or witness some of the wildest, most dangerous, and most beautiful weather spectacles in the world. Rocky Mountains (Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming) The spectacular snow-covered Rockies offer hiking, rafting, and excellent snow skiing as well as deserts, subtropical lowlands, continental highlands, and some large cities. Tourist cities include some of the nicest amenities for hundreds of miles and some parts of the Rockies are virtually untouched by man. Southwest (Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah) Heavily influenced by Spanish and Mexican culture, this area is home to some of the nation's most spectacular natural attractions and some flourishing artistic communities. Although mostly empty, the region's hot deserts have some of the nation's largest cities. Additionally, a strong Native American influence can be felt throughout as this region includes many large reservations and sovereign territorial lands. California Like the Southwest, California has a history under Spanish and Mexican rule and is heavily influenced by Spanish and Mexican culture in addition to massive immigration from around the world. California offers world-class cities, deserts, rainforests, geothermal features, Mediterranean coastlines, snowy mountains, and beautiful beaches. Northern California (above the San Francisco Bay Area) and Southern California (below the San Francisco Bay Area) are culturally distinct. Pacific Northwest (Washington, Oregon) The Pacific Northwest offers outdoor pursuits as well as cosmopolitan cities. The terrain ranges from spectacular temperate rain forests to scenic mountains and volcanoes to beautiful coastlines and Mediterranean beaches, to sage-covered steppes and deserts. In minutes, you can travel from a high-tech metropolis to a thick forest or a mountaintop. Alaska One-fifth as large as the rest of the United States, Alaska reaches well into the Arctic, and features mountainous wilderness. The state has a rich and diverse tapestry of native cultures including Yupik, Inupiat, Tlingit and others. Around 15% of the residents are of native origin. Hawaii A volcanic archipelago in the tropical Pacific, 2,300 miles south west of California (the nearest state), laid-back Hawaii is a vacation paradise. With beautiful cliffs, jungles, waterfalls, and beaches, its definitely a place to unwind. The indigenous Polynesian population are known for being accommodating and fun-loving. Politically, the US is a federation of states, each with its own rights and powers (hence the name). The US also administers a motley collection of non-state territories around the world, the largest of which are Puerto Rico (which has the special status of a "commonwealth") and the US Virgin Islands in the Caribbean plus American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands (also has special status of a "commonwealth") in Oceania, along with many others. New York Muzeu, modă, teatru muzical, jazz și parc Las Vegas Cazinou, slot machine, joc de noroc, defileu și concert Los Angeles Muzeu, modă, artă, concert și studio de film San Francisco Ceață, artă, vin, leu de mare și stil victorian Grand Canyon National Park Drumeție, defileu, râu, rafting și camping Orlando, Florida Parc de distracție, Walt Disney, universal studios, montagne russe și parc Miami Art déco, plajă, parc de distracție, artă și grădină zoologică Chicago Arhitectură, muzeu, jazz, concert și artă Washington, D.C. Monument, muzeu, George Washington, grădină botanică și artă Boston Muzeu, concert, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, port și orchestră Maui Snorkeling, plajă, surfing, vulcan și tiroliană San Diego Grădină zoologică, parc, plajă, surfing și balenăTourism in the United States is a large industry that serves millions of international and domestic tourists yearly. Tourists visit the US to see natural wonders, cities, historic landmarks, and entertainment venues. Americans seek similar attractions, as well as recreation and vacation areas. Tourism in the United States grew rapidly in the form of urban tourism during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. By the 1850s, tourism in the United States was well established both as a cultural activity and as an industry. New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, all major US cities, attracted a large number of tourists by the 1890s. By 1915, city touring had marked significant shifts in the way Americans perceived, organized, and moved. Democratization of travel occurred during the early twentieth century when the automobile revolutionized travel. Similarly air travel revolutionized travel during 1945–1969, contributing greatly to tourism in the United States. Purchases of travel and tourism-related goods and services by international visitors traveling in the United States totaled $10.9 billion during February 2013.[1] The travel and tourism industry in the United States were among the first commercial casualties of the September 11, 2001 attacks, a series of terrorist attacks on the US. Terrorists used four commercial airliners as weapons of destruction, all of which were destroyed in the attacks. In the US, tourism is either the first, second, or third largest employer in 29 states,[which?] employing 7.3 million in 2004, to take care of 1.19 billion trips tourists took in the US in 2005. As of 2007, there are 2,462 registered National Historic Landmarks (NHL) recognized by the United States government. As of 2016, Orlando is the most visited destination in the United States. Tourists spend more money in the United States than any other country, while attracting the second-highest number of tourists after France.[2] The discrepancy may be explained by longer stays in the US.[2] Contents 1 19th century 2 Early tourism 3 Late 20th century 4 21st century 5 Attractions 6 See also 7 References 8 External links 19th century The rise of urban tourism in the United States during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries represented a major cultural transformation concerning urban space, leisure natural activity and as an industry.package tours did not exist until the 1870s and 1880s, entrepreneurs of various sorts from hotel keepers and agents for railroad lines to artists and writers recognized the profit to be gained from the prospering tourism industry.[3] The rise of locomotive steam-powered trains during the 1800s enabled tourists to travel more easily and quickly.[4] In the United States 2,800 miles (4,500 km) of track had been completed by 1840, by 1860 all major eastern US cities were linked by rail, and by 1869 the first trans-American railroad link was completed.[5] Yosemite Park was developed as a tourist attraction in the late 1850s and early 1860s for an audience who wanted a national icon and place to symbolize exotic wonder of its region.[3] Photography played an important role for the first time in the development of tourist attractions, making it possible to distribute hundreds of images showing various places of interest.[3] New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, all major US cities, attracted a large number of tourists by the 1890s.[6] New York's population grew from 300,000 in 1840 to 800,000 in 1850.[7] Chicago experienced a dramatic increase from 4,000 residents in 1840 to 300,000 by 1870. Dictionaries first published the word 'tourist' sometime in 1800, when it referred to those going to Europe or making a round trip of natural wonders in New York and New England. The absence of urban tourism during the nineteenth century was in part because American cities lacked the architecture and art which attracted thousands to Europe. American cities tended to offend the sensitive with ugliness and commercialism rather than inspire awe or aesthetic pleasure.[8] Some tourists were fascinated by the rapid growth of the new urban areas: "It is an absorbing thing to watch the process of world-making; both the formation of the natural and the conventional world," wrote English writer Harriet Martineau in 1837.[9] The Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts was one of many similar institutions classed as tourist attractions in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As American cities developed, new institutions to accommodate and care for the insane, disabled and criminal were constructed. The Hartford, Connecticut American School for the Deaf opened in 1817, Ossining, New York state prison (now known as Sing Sing) in 1825, the Connecticut State Penitentiary at Wethersfield in 1827, Mount Auburn Cemetery in 1831, the Perkins School for the Blind in 1832, and the Worcester State Hospital in 1833.[10] These institutions attracted the curiosity of American and foreign visitors. The English writer and actress Fanny Kemble was an admirer of the American prison system who was also concerned that nature was being destroyed in favor of new developments. Guidebooks published in the 1830s, 40s and 50s described new prisons, asylums and institutions for the deaf and blind, and urged tourists to visit these sights.[11] Accounts of these visits written by Charles Dickens, Harriet Martineau, Lydia Sigourney and Caroline Gilman were published in magazines and travel books.[11] Sigourney's Scenes in My Native Land (1845) included descriptions of her tour of Niagara Falls and other places of scenic interest with accounts of her visits to prisons and asylums.[11] Many visited these institutions because nothing like them had existed before.[12] The buildings which housed them were themselves monumental, often placed on hilltops as a symbol of accomplishment.[12] Early tourism By 1915, city touring had marked significant shifts in the way Americans perceived, organized and moved around in urban environments.[6] Urban tourism became a profitable industry in 1915 as the number of tour agencies, railroad passenger departments, guidebook publishers and travel writers grew at a fast pace.[6] The expense of pleasure tours meant that only the minority of Americans between 1850 and 1915 could experience the luxury of tourism.[6] Many Americans traveled to find work, but few found time for enjoyment of the urban environment. As transportation networks improved, the length of commuting decreased, and income rose.[6] A growing number of Americans were able to afford short vacations by 1915. Still, mass tourism was not possible until after World War II.[6] During the nineteenth century, tourism of any form had been available only to the upper and middle classes. This changed during the early twentieth century through the democratization of travel. In 1895, popular publications printed articles showing the car was cheaper to operate than the horse.[13] The development of automobiles in the early 1900s included the introduction of the Ford Model T in 1908. In 1900, 8,000 cars were registered in the US, which increased to 619,000 by 1911.[14] By the time of the Model T's introduction in 1908, there were 44 US households per car.[14] Early cars were a luxury for the wealthy, but after Ford began to dramatically drop prices after 1913, more were able to afford one.[15] The development of hotels with leisure complexes had become a popular development during the 1930s in the United States.[16] The range of "club" type holidays available appealed to a broad segment of the holiday market.[16] As more families traveled independently by car, hotels failed to cater to their needs.[16] Kemmons Wilson opened the first motel as a new form of accommodation in Memphis, Tennessee in 1952.[16] The Art Deco district of South Beach in Miami, Florida was developed during the 1930s. Although thousands of tourists visited Florida during the early 1900s, it was not until after World War II that the tourist industry quickly became Florida's largest source of income.[17] Florida's white sandy beaches, warm winter temperatures and wide range of activities such as swimming, fishing, boating and hiking all attracted tourists to the state. During the 1930s, architects designed Art Deco style buildings in Miami Beach.[18] Visitors are still attracted to the Art Deco district of Miami.[18] Theme parks were soon built across Florida. One of the largest resorts in the world, Walt Disney World Resort, was opened near Orlando, Florida in 1971.[19] In its first year, the 28,000-acre (110 km2) park added $14 billion to Orlando's economy. Late 20th century The Douglas DC-4 was one of the first airliners in the United States used for commercial flights. The revolution of air travel between 1945 and 1969 contributed greatly to tourism in the United States. In that quarter century, commercial aviation evolved from 28-passenger airliners flying at less than 200 mph (320 km/h) to 150-passenger jetliners cruising continents at 600 mph (970 km/h).[20] During this time, air travel in the US evolved from a novelty into a routine for business travelers and vacationers alike. Rapid developments in aviation technology, economic prosperity in the United States and the demand for air travel all contributed to the early beginnings of commercial aviation in the US.[20] During the first four decades of the twentieth century, long-haul journeys between large American cities were accomplished using trains. By the 1950s, air travel was part of everyday life for many Americans.[20] The tourism industry in the US experienced exponential growth as tourists could travel almost anywhere with a fast, reliable and routine system.[20] For some, a vacation in Hawaii was now a more frequent pleasure. Air travel changed everything from family vacations to Major League Baseball, as had steam-powered trains in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.[20] By the end of the twentieth century, tourism had significantly grown throughout the world. The World Tourism Organisation (WTO, 1998) recorded that, in 1950, arrivals of tourists from abroad, excluding same-day visits, numbered about 25.2 million.[21] By 1997, the figure was 612.8 million. In 1950 receipts from international movements were US$2.1 billion, in 1997 they were $443.7 billion.[21] 21st century The travel and tourism industry in the United States was among the first commercial casualties of the September 11, 2001 attacks, a series of terrorist attacks on the US. Terrorists used four commercial airliners as weapons of destruction, all of which were destroyed in the attacks with 3,000 casualties.[22] In the first full week after flights resumed, passenger numbers fell by nearly 45 percent, from 9 million in the week before September 11 to 5 million.[22] Hotels and travel agencies received cancellations across the world. The hotel industry suffered an estimated $700 million loss in revenue during the four days following the attacks.[22] The situation recovered over the following months as the Federal Reserve kept the financial system afloat. The U.S. Congress issued a $5 billion grant to the nation's airlines and $10 billion in loan guarantees to keep them flying.[22] In the US, tourism is either the first, second or third largest employer in 29 states, employing 7.3 million in 2004, to take care of 1.19 billion trips tourists took in the US in 2005.[23] The US outbound holiday market is sensitive in the short term, but possibly one of the most surprising results from the September 11, 2001 attacks was that by February 2002 it had bounced back. This quick revival was generally quicker than many commentators had predicted only five months earlier.[24] The United States economy began to slow significantly in 2007, mostly because of a real-estate slump, gas prices and related financial problems.[25] Many economists believe that the economy entered a recession at the end of 2007 or early in 2008.[25] Some state budgets for tourism marketing have decreased, such as Connecticut which is facing soaring gas prices.[26] 100 million tourists visited Florida in 2015, a record for the nation.[27] Attractions Main article: Tourist attractions in the United States Today, there exists a wide range of tourist attractions in the United States such as amusement parks, festivals, gambling, golf courses, historical buildings and landmarks, hotels, museums, galleries, outdoor recreation, spas, restaurants and sports. Number of non-immigrant admissions for tourist and business purposes into the United States in fiscal year 2015 United States Over 2 million admissions Over 1 million admissions Over 500 thousand admissions Over 250 thousand admissions Over 100 thousand admissions Over 15 thousand admissions Under 15 thousand admissions Highest number of non-immigrant admissions for tourists and for business purposes into the United States in fiscal year 2014 and 2015 was from the following countries (listed over 700,000 admissions):[28][29] Country FY2015 FY 2014 Mexico Increase 19,175,345 Increase 18,889,281 Canada Increase 11,671,122 Increase 11,289,743 United Kingdom Increase 4,691,874 Increase 4,549,934 Japan Decrease 3,750,667 Decrease 3,933,941 Brazil Increase 2,383,822 Increase 2,275,588 China Increase 2,309,654 Increase 2,001,302 Germany Decrease 2,208,145 Increase 2,283,086 France Decrease 1,915,725 Increase 1,966,335 South Korea Increase 1,742,422 Increase 1,576,328 Australia Increase 1,399,615 Increase 1,389,358 Italy Decrease 1,229,115 Increase 1,282,485 India Increase 1,175,153 Increase 1,111,738 Spain Decrease 953,969 Increase 955,737 Colombia Increase 928,424 Increase 924,916 Argentina Increase 765,576 Increase 730,089 Netherlands Decrease 749,826 Increase 766,936 Venezuela Decrease 745,097 Increase 744,666 Sweden Decrease 682,178 Increase 751,455 Total (worldwide) Increase 69,025,896 Increase 67,519,113 [show]Statistics of American Samoa 2014[30] [show]Statistics of Guam[31] [show]Statistics of Northern Mariana Islands[32] See also Visa policy of the United States Ecotourism in the United States List of World Heritage Sites in the United States Welcome centers in the United States References INTERNATIONAL VISITORS SPEND $14.3 BILLION IN FEBRUARY 2013, UP 5 PERCENT FROM FEBRUARY 2012, April 15, 2013, retrieved April 19, 2013 "France learns to speak 'touriste'". Associated Press. Sears, John F. (1989), Sacred Places: American Tourist Attractions in the Nineteenth Century, University of Massachusetts Press, p. 123, ISBN 1-55849-162-7 "Summer Travel" (PDF), The New York Times, July 19, 1868, retrieved October 22, 2013 Standeven, Joy; de Knop, Paul (1999), Sport Tourism, Human Kinetics, p. 20, ISBN 0-87322-853-7 Cocks, Catherine (2001), Doing the Town: The Rise of Urban Tourism in the United States, 1850-1915, University of California Press, pp. 6–7, ISBN 0-520-22746-8 Cocks 2001, pp. 6–7 Cocks 2001, p. 11 Sears, C.; Davis, T.; Guydish, J. (Jan 2002), "Effects of treatment history and centralized intake on drug treatment outcomes.", Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 34 (1): 87–95, doi:10.1080/02791072.2002.10399940, ISSN 0279-1072, PMID 12003118 Sears, John F. 1989, p. 11 Sears, John F. 1989, p. 89 Sears, John F. 1989, p. 90 Lay, M. G.; Vance, James E. (1992), Ways of the World: A History of the World's Roads and of the Vehicles That Used Them, Rutgers University Press, p. 174, ISBN 0-8135-2691-4 Lay & Vance 1992, p. 170 Lay & Vance 1992, p. 180 Standeven & de Knop 1999, p. 31 Viele, John (1996), The Florida Keys: A History of the Pioneers, Pineapple Press, p. 135, ISBN 1-56164-101-4 Cerwinske, Laura; Kaminsky, David (1981), Tropical Deco: The Architecture and Design of Old Miami Beach, Rizzoli, ISBN 0-8478-0345-7 Grant, Kim; Penland, Paige R. (January 2003), Florida (3rd ed.), Lonely Planet Publications, p. 27, ISBN 1-74059-136-4 Yenne, Bill (2005), Classic American Airliners, Zenith Imprint, p. 8, ISBN 0-7603-1931-6 Ryan, Chris (2003), Recreational tourism: Demand and Impacts, Channel View Publications, p. 18, ISBN 1-873150-56-3 Mak, James (2003), Tourism and the Economy: understanding the economics of tourism, University of Hawaii Press, p. 193, ISBN 0-8248-2789-9 Parks, Janet B.; Jerome, Quaterman; Lucie, Thibault (2007), Contemporary sport management, Human Kinetics, p. 142, ISBN 0-7360-6365-X Ryan 2003, p. 28 Leonhardt, David (2008), "United States Economy", New York Times, retrieved May 19, 2008 Levy, Harlan J. (May 18, 2008), "Trying to Sell Europeans stuff", The New York Times, retrieved May 19, 2008 Day, Ashley (March 6, 2016). "Florida shines brightly in spring". USA Today/Florida Today. Melbourne, Florida. pp. 3U. Retrieved March 6, 2016. 2014 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics Yearbook of Immigration Statistics 2015 Statistical Yearbook 2014 pages 91-92 Data for arrivals by air only [1] External links United States of America travel guide from Wikivoyage Office of Travel and Tourism Industries Discover America - The Official Travel and Tourism Website of the United States.