Julie - There ARE more Germans

Apparently, Roberta's observation of a large number of Germans to the GC is not a new phenomenon. I found a research report from using 1982 data that documents/estimates the percent of visitors by nationality. The report is titled, "Technical Report No. 12: International Visitors to Grand Canyon National Park," and is written by A. Heaton Underhill and Amy H. Fonken (May 1983). (http://sdrsnet.srnr.arizona.edu/data/techreports/TECHRPT12.pdf)

So, Table 6 reports that the largest share of international visitors (14.6%) is from Germany. The next largest is from England (13.2%). "Other" follows at 12.4% with visitors from Japan representing 11.1%.

A more recent report that details results from a 2003-2004 survey puts the percent of foreign vistors from Germany behind visitors from th UK, Canada, and Japan. (http://www.nau.edu/hrm/ahrrc/reports/G_C_EXEC_SUMMARY.pdf#search=grandcanyon)

Note, that we were in the middle of a recession in 1982 and are currently in a recession so it is not too far of a stretch to compare today's obervation of international visitor distribution to that seen in 1983. The question remains, however, is WHY Germans are more likely than other international visitors to continue their visits to the US (and the GC) when we are in a recession, than visitors from other countries. Is the German economy more insulated than other foreign economies from the downturns in our economy? There is some evidence that Germany (and China) are indeed faring better in this global economic downturn than other foreign economies. (http://seekingalpha.com/article/122364-germany-china-faring-better-in-the-downturn)

OK, it's time to get back to my vacation...