The U.S. Department of Commerce recently announced that total U.S. travel and tourism-related employment increased at an annual rate of one percent in the third quarter of 2013, following an increase of 2.5 percent (revised) in the second quarter.
Tourism Spending. Real spending on passenger air transportation increased 6.2 percent in the third quarter of 2013 after increasing 14.8 percent in the second quarter. Real spending on traveler accommodations increased 3.3 percent in the third quarter after decreasing 0.2 percent in the second quarter.
Tourism Prices. Prices for passenger air transportation continued to grow, increasing 5.8 percent in the third quarter after decreasing 8.5 percent in the second quarter. Airlines increased fares, especially on international routes, in the third quarter to cover the increased costs of fuel. In contrast, prices for traveler accommodations also dropped 3 percent in the third quarter of 2013 after increasing 5.5 percent in the second quarter.
Tourism Employment. Direct employment in the travel and tourism industries increased 1.3 percent in the third quarter of 2013. All industries except two saw increases in employment with food service and drinking places experiencing the largest growth at 3.1 percent.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis, through funding provided by the National Travel and Tourism Office, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, produces the U.S Travel and Tourism Satellite Accounts (TTSAs) from which these estimates were derived.
Travel and Tourism Satellite Accounts form an indispensable statistical instrument that allows the United States to measure the relative size and importance of the travel and tourism industry, along with its contribution to gross domestic product (GDP).
Approved by the United Nations in March 2002 and endorsed by the U.N. Statistical Commission, TTSAs have become the international standard by which travel and tourism is measured. In fact, more than fifty countries around the world have embraced travel and tourism satellite accounting as the only comprehensive, comparable, and credible measure of travel and tourism and its impact on national economies.
