The U.S. travel sector observed a seven per cent increase in international tourism in 2014 from its previous year. The travel and tourism sector of America offered jobs to 7.8 million and the GDP went up by 2.6 per cent in the U.S. This was a quick and productive recovery by the country after 9/11 when tourism slowed down.A consistent growth is predicted till 2020.
The country has been observing a year on year increase with five million more visitors coming to the U.S. according to the National Travel and Tourism Office.
Among the 50 markets of international visitors to the United States most countries have recorded year on year increase with exception to Canada which went down by 2 per cent, Argentina showed no increase, Japan recorded a -4 per cent growth and Venezuela went down by 22.
International visitors to the U.S. are projected to grow by 96.4 per cent till 2020. A steady growth is being observed by the U.S. Dept of Commerce. It is predicted that billions (and even trillions) of dollars of spend will come to the U.S.
The cities in the U.S. that were most popular with tourists were New York City which recorded an arrivals of 9,741 a 2 percent increase over 2013. The maximum increase was observed by Atlanta, GA which saw a 25 percent increase since 2014. In 2013, 577 visitors came to Atlanta, GA but 2014 saw 723 visitors. The states that lost out on visitors were Honolulu, HI which went down by 3 per cent, Philadelphia, PA and Dallas, TX which went down by 8 per cent each and San Jose saw a decrease of 1 percent.
United Kingdom sent maximum pleasure tourists and business tourists to the United States. Pleasure tourists increased by 3 per cent and business tourists by 5 per cent. Total arrivals from the UK were recorded by 3,972,655. Percentage change in total arrivals went up by 4 per cent.
China on the other hand had more pleasure tourists arriving to the United State a total of 21 per cent while no business arrivals were recorded from China to the United States. Japan too recorded a 4 per cent decrease in pleasure tourists while a 6 per cent increase of business tourists. Venezuela sent the least number of pleasure and business tourists to the US.
The average number of states visited in 2013 increased from 1.4 to 1.5 per cent. Travellers visiting one state increased by 73 per cent and average number of destinations visited went up by 1.9 to 2.0 per cent. Travellers that visited only one destination dropped by two per centage point from 54 per cent.
The overnight stay by international tourists increased by 18.4 from 17.5 and top countries that made overnight stays were U.K, Japan, China, Germany, Korea and Italy.
Average party style travel remained constant and conventional tour packages too made a slight increase in 2014. First time travellers to the United States increased by point one per cent in 2014 over its previous year. Transportation usage by foreign tourists also showed an 18 per cent increase.
