Spending
by international visitors in January 2013 outpaced January 2012
levels by nearly 11 percent.
International
visitors spent an estimated $14.4 billion on travel to, and
tourism-related activities within, the United States during the
month.
“Record-setting
growth in the travel and tourism industry continues to contribute to
the strength of our nation’s economy,” said Under Secretary of
Commerce for International Trade Francisco Sánchez. “International
travel and tourism represents our country’s largest services
export, and in 2012, record spending in the United States by
international travelers contributed to $2.2 trillion in overall U.S.
exports - the highest level in our country’s history. But there is
more work to do. That is why we are working every day to implement
the National Travel and Tourism Strategy to attract more visitors to
our shores and support the nearly eight million Americans employed in
this critical industry.”
Purchases
of travel and tourism-related goods and services by international
visitors traveling in the United States totaled $10.9 billion during
January, an increase of more than 10 percent when compared to last
year. These goods and services include food, lodging, recreation,
gifts, entertainment, local transportation in the United States, and
other items incidental to foreign travel. Fares received by U.S.
carriers (and U.S. vessel operators) from international visitors also
increased by more than 11 percent to $3.5 billion for the month, an
increase of $355 million when compared to January 2012. Overall, the
United States enjoyed a favorable balance of trade for the month of
January in the travel and tourism sector, with a surplus of $4.6
billion.
The
January international travel and tourism spending data builds on the
strong report recently released by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s
Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), which showed that for, employment
in the travel and tourism industries increased 2.2 percent in 2012
after increasing 1.8 percent in 2011. Overall, tourism and
tourism-related industries supported 7.7 million jobs in 2012, an
increase of 2.1 percent when compared to the previous year. About 5.5
million (71 percent) of these positions were direct tourism jobs -
jobs where workers produce goods and services sold directly to
visitors - while 2.2 million (29 percent) were indirect
tourism-related jobs - jobs where workers produce goods and services
used to produce what visitors purchase.
Increasing
U.S. travel and tourism will not come at the expense of national
security. The President’s plan for commonsense immigration reform
includes a number of proposals to support his commitment to
increasing U.S. travel and tourism while maintaining our nation’s
security. Specifically, the President’s immigration proposal
reforms the Visa Waiver Program to strengthen law enforcement
cooperation while facilitating more efficient trade and tourism to
the United States, securely streamlines visa and foreign visitor
processing, facilitates public-private partnerships aimed at
increasing investment in foreign visitor processing, and strengthens
and improves infrastructure at ports of entry.
