The latest findings from ForwardKeys revealed that tourist arrivals in the US from the Asia Pacific region went down by 3.2% in 2018.
The drop in the U.S.-bound tourism in the second half of 2018 was mainly due to the Kilauea volcano eruption in Hawaii, which is a top destination for Japanese travellers to US.
There was a 0%growth in Chinese visitors to the US due to the ongoing trade war between the two countries. In the US inbound travel, Asia Pacific has a 20% market share.
However, there was a 3.2 % increase in European visitors to the US as compared with 2017 which has a 38% market share. The German tourists stayed away and it went down 8.7% on 2017.
There was a very modest growth in the US in 2018 in the total international tourist arrivals. This was 1.0% up on the previous year.
The tourism growth was led by Ireland up by 14.1%, Spain up by 11.8%, Italy up by 10.5%, Brazil up by 12.8 %, Colombia up y 10.3 %.
The top US destinations for the international travellers was New York which was up 2.1% and the Northeast grew by 2.8%. The fast growing destinations were Fort Lauderdale, in the South and Detroit in the Midwest which was up by 12.8% and 12.5%.
ForwardKeys CEO Olivier Jager said that the international air travel is at the mercy of world events, natural disasters and man-made disputes. To understand fluctuations in tourism is vital for business and government alike; and ForwardKeys is committed to deliver the most insightful data, as swiftly as possible, to help in decision-making.
Tags: ForwardKeys, New York, Olivier Jager, U.S. tourism
