To be honest - that's sort of off the beaten path (speaking for a lot of Americans).
From the SE asian island-ish countries, I can think the ordering of "who goes where" would look something like this - Thailand, Bali, Vietnam, Phillippines, Malaysia - just based on country marketing + anecdotal conversations alone.
This is coming from someone who was nomad-ing around for 2 1/2 years too.
My flight from New York to KL cost less than my flight from Orlando to NY.
Most Malaysians also speak English very well, especially compared to the rest of SE Asia.
I have spoken to Americans back home who couldn't even point out Malaysia on a map, and even more who just write it off as a "Muslim country" despite it being secular and very diverse.
I would say it has less to do with accessibility, and more to do with Americans being skittish travelers who have been brainwashed into thinking that any country with a couple Muslims is a scary place.
I said it has to do with how the country presents itself. If you polled people going to Asia - you'd see a huge # of them would be going to Thailand or Bali (80/20) - likely due to them being portrayed in the media quite a bit. Indonesia is also significantly Muslim.
You seem to be looking for a fight where there isn't one. Maybe you should reconsider your assumptions about Americans.
I am Mexican American, its not an assumption when you lived in the country for most of your life.
I'm not looking for a fight, I am just genuinely interested in why Americans are an under represented group of travelers in the country where I currently live and work.
So far the majority of the replies that attempted to give a reason included the fact that it is a Muslim country, despite that being as true as America being a Christian country.
From the SE asian island-ish countries, I can think the ordering of "who goes where" would look something like this - Thailand, Bali, Vietnam, Phillippines, Malaysia - just based on country marketing + anecdotal conversations alone.
This is coming from someone who was nomad-ing around for 2 1/2 years too.