How popular was the United States as a tourist destination in the 18th and 19th century for people from other countries? Did the United States try to make itself a tourist destination? And what were some of the most popular attractions/places to visit in the United States at that time?

by Knightmare25
QuirrelMan

I am afraid I cannot answer your question, but I would suggest perhaps tightening it a bit.

Tourism as an industry - i.e. luring tourists to a destination for revenue run by a state Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) or private Travel Operator - is really a 20th century phenomenon. Traveling for the sake of travel an an individual (health, status, necessity, writing, etc) or travel for propaganda was really the most one would get prior to this, though I am sure individual examples can refute this; e.g. Maybe Columbus is the most famous head of a DMO? /s

As far as I can guess, popular travel destinations among upper tiers of society may have been a thing in the 19th century already, but certainly in only a select few nations.