13 AMAZING TRAVEL FACTS

As avid travelers, we were well aware of the health benefits of travel. It brings you joy, eases tension, sharpens your problem-solving abilities, and so on. I won’t reiterate those widely known travel tidbits. We’ve heard those interesting travel-related information far too often. No, what I mean by “fun facts” is true, amusing, or unexpected information. Something I laughed at while reading. Alternatively, something I read let me realize that everything made sense!

I’ll now share my 13 (true) interesting travel-related facts with you!

FUN FACT #1 

On average a person gains about 0,3 kg on a 1-3 week holiday.

Based on a prospective study published in Physiology &Behavior, adults going on a 1-3 week holiday gain on average 0,32 kg. When I was making my list of fun facts about traveling, this was one of the first travel trivia I wanted to know. And to be honest, I really thought it would be more.

If I’m going on a two week holiday to let’s say Italy, there’s no way I’m only gaining 320 grams! With all that yummy pasta, pizza, ice cream, and wine, I would be surprised if I gained anything less than half a kilo. But when I’m traveling for a few months, I usually don’t gain weight at all. Especially, when I’m going to countries such as Uganda, I always end up losing weight. (Let’s just say that my intestines are usually not completely prepared for the food I eat there.)

But there was one more finding in this study that was even more interesting, and probably also more important. Because they showed that the 320 grams weight gain didn’t just disappear after the holiday.

After six weeks, it was persistent!

Meaning that if you would go on a holiday twice a year, you would gain 640 grams annually. Now that will add up fast, especially if you generally go on holiday more than two times a year.

Photo by i yunmai on Unsplash

FUN FACT #2

The most visited country in the world is France (2017 statistics)

This was another travel trivia that really surprised me. For some reason I expected the United States or China to be number one. But now that I think about it logically, it makes more sense, because Chinese or US citizens visiting another part of their own country are not counted in these statistics.

The latest statistics I could find were from 2017, so I apologize for the relatively old statistics. Though it is said to still be accurate in 2019. And well, obviously, the statistics of 2020 are not going to be relevant with all the travel restrictions going on right now.

Anyway, back to the fun facts about traveling.

With 86,9 million visitors in 2017, France is the most visited country worldwide. And as I said, first this travel trivia surprised me. But France is a popular holiday destination for people from any part of the world. And it’s not only a great summer destination. The French Alps are a popular winter destination too. And for many Europeans, France is a popular weekend and city trip too. So I guess it shouldn’t have surprised me.

Spain comes second with 81.8 million visitors, followed by the two countries I expected, The United States of America (76,9 million) and China (60,7 million). 

Photo by Paul Gaudriault on Unsplash

FUN FACT #3

The least visited country in the world only sees 2000 tourists a year

Now that we know that France is the most visited country, what country is the least visited? Before I give away the answer, the lack of beauty is definitely not the reason why this country is so little visited. But the accessibility definitely plays a role. According to the 2017 data of the United Nations World Travel Organization, Tuvalu is the least visited country in the world with only 2000 foreign visitors.

Tuvalu is an island group of 100 small islands in the South Pacific and there is only one small airport on the main island. So as you can imagine there are not many flights in and out of the country.

Unsurprisingly, numbers 2 and 3 on the list of least visited countries are also two small island groups far away from the mainlands. Kiribati and The Marshall Islands rank second and third with both 6000 visitors in 2017.

FUN FACT #4

Louvre is the most visited museum in the world

With France being the most visited country in the world, this fun travel fact should not be that much of a surprise. It makes sense that the most popular museum in the capital of France is also very often visited.

By the way, did you also know that there are 173 museums in Paris?! 

Find out more fun facts about Paris in this post by Beeloved city.

So The Louvre is 1 in 173 and receives over 10 million visitors in 2018. Second in line is the National Museum of China in Beijing with nearly 9 million visitors, followed by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City (almost 7 million annual visitors).

Photo by Alex Holyoake on Unsplash

FUN FACT #5

60,000 pounds of shrimp are consumed in Las Vegas every day

Okay, so this one of those fun facts about traveling that you can find everywhere on the internet, but is it actually true? Well, obviously, I am not a Las Vegas- Shrimp-Expert, but I tried my best to find the actual source of this statistic for you. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the original source, but this article seems to be supporting this immense number of 60,000 pounds of shrimp every day.

For everyone like me, who doesn’t know how much that is in kilograms: that’s nearly 30,000 kg of shrimp every day! To give a sense of reference, this is more than the combined consumption of shrimp by the rest of the United States. That’s quite insane!

Photo by Elle Hughes on Unsplash

FUN FACT #6

You remember less from your holiday if your work during holiday (even if you just check your mail)

Now, this is a travel trivia you should remember!

I think, instinctively, we all knew that working during your holiday wasn’t a good idea. And this study finally supports our instincts. The study revealed that people who worked on their laptops (even if it was just reading emails) had 43% fewer memories of their vacation compared to those who left their laptops at home!

This was conducted by researchers from the University of Texas and HomeAway, unfortunately, I could not access the original study, but the most important statistics were listed here. And there were some pretty interesting ones I can tell! I will just share the ones that I found the most interesting here.

• Taking photos (including selfies) will help you remember more from your holiday.
• People who went on a holiday with a mix of friends and family remembered more than those who went alone or with only friends or family
• Traveling for a specific celebration will help you remember your holiday better
  The amount of money you spent does not influence its memorability
• People that were happy and excited before their vacation were much more likely to remember their holiday. So besides the fact that pre-trip excitement has already been proven to make you happy before your trip, it is now also proven to help you remember your trip afterward! If you needed any more reasons to start planning your trip, here you go. Does planning a trip normally stress you out? Try my easy 7-step guide to planning a trip to feel excited instead of stressed. And who knows, you might even remember from your holiday!

Photo by Stefan Nikolovski on Unsplash

FUN FACT #7

Do you travel a lot? Good! It makes you more attractive (by other people)

There have been a few different studies about traveling and dating and attractiveness. And every time travelers come out as more attractive. A study by Hinge (a dating-app) showed that travel photos received more likes compared to regular photos. In many cases, the likes doubled if it was a travel photo. Another survey done by Intrepid Travel & My Single Friend showed that almost 80% of the respondents found a partner more attractive if they were interested in traveling.

Obviously, travelers themselves can think of many reasons why travelers are “more attractive”. But other than these two studies, I couldn’t find any studies that support our case. But simply google “does traveling make you more attractive” and I promise you will find many “facts” that support this claim.

FUN FACT #8

Need another reason to justify your travel obsession? 82% of employers think traveling makes you more employable

Yeah, that’s right.

Remember everyone telling you, you shouldn’t travel, because what about your job? What about your future? What about that degree you worked so hard for, you’re giving up on?

You can now use this study by Hostelworld as an answer to everyone with this well-intended (but annoying) advice. Because this study showed that 82% of the recruiters and hiring managers thought that traveling improved the candidacy!

So say goodbye to those worries of not being able to find a job after traveling. As we all instinctively knew, you will be just fine! (Or even more than fine according to this study).

Photo by Cytonn Photography on Unsplash

FUN FACT #9

Who run the solo travel world? Girls!

Although, before you pin me down on this statistic. Let me put it correctly. A study by Overseas Adventure Travel showed, that of all their travelers that were registered as solo travelers, 85% were female! Even though this number is only from one source, it is still a huge difference.

It does align with my personal experience of traveling because in my experience there are usually more solo female travelers compared to males. Obviously, my experience is not a very reliable source of information for a travel fact, so at least now there is some data supporting it.

Photo by David Marcu on Unsplash

FUN FACT #10

There is a typo on the famous Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Liberty Bell is an international symbol for liberty and is housed across the World Heritage Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. But if you look closely at the text on the bell you will find that the word “Pennsylvania” is missing one n on the bell.

Just google Liberty Bell and you can see it for yourself!

FUN FACT #11

On average, UK travelers visited the most countries: 10

I am absolutely not a fan of just ticking off countries just for the sake of ticking them off. I’d rather spend more time in one country than try and visit as many as possible. But I did think this was an interesting statistic. Because if you enjoy traveling as much as I do and you are willing to spend all your savings on travel, you sometimes forget that not everyone shares your interest.

Anyway, in this study by Hostelworld, the UK travelers ranked first. They visited 10 countries on average. Followed by German travelers with 8, and Australian travelers with 6.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the original report. So I am not sure if every country was represented among the respondents, and which age groups were included. I can imagine that my grandparents’ generation has visited fewer countries than my or my parents’ generation. Either way, I thought it was an interesting fact about traveling. 

Photo by Andrew Stutesman on Unsplash

FUN FACT #12

Are you Australian and trying to make friends while traveling?

Try talking to an American.

According to the same study by Hostelworld, Australians are the number 1 nationality Americans want to meet while traveling. Followed by English and German. Again, I have no idea how they studied this and which age group was included. I just thought it was quite a funny “fact” about traveling.

Photo by Joey Csunyo on Unsplash

FUN FACT #13

Unfortunately, traveling is not all rainbows and roses, and amazing positive consequences. According to a study in the UK, about 11% of primary STD infections at a clinic were acquired when traveling abroad. That same study also showed that of the people that had a new sexual partner during their trip, the majority were men and traveling alone.

Alright, here you go 13 random but fun facts about traveling, so next time you have a travel trivia quiz, you can impress everyone with your knowledge!