WASHINGTON
- Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Francisco
Sánchez highlighted new data that show spending by international
visitors to the United States in June 2013 totaled $14.6 billion, an
increase of 5 percent when compared to June 2012. International
visitors have spent an estimated $87.1 billion on U.S. travel and
tourism-related goods and services year-to-date in 2013 (January
through June), an increase of 7 percent when compared to the same
period last year.
“The
economic contributions of international travel and tourism continue
to be a bright spot, with the sector leading services exports both on
a monthly basis and year-to-date,” said Under Secretary Sánchez.
“The increase in U.S. travel and tourism-related exports, which is
supporting the president’s National Travel and Tourism Strategy, is
crucial to supporting and creating jobs and boosting our nation’s
economy.”
Purchases
of travel and tourism-related goods and services by international
visitors traveling in the United States totaled $67.0 billion during
the first half of 2013. 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 totaled $20.1 billion during the first half of
2013. The United States enjoyed a favorable balance of trade for the
month of June in the travel and tourism sector, with a surplus of
more than $4.3 billion.
The
increase in international tourism to the United States is helping to
achieve the goals of the National
Travel and Tourism Strategy,
launched last year by the Commerce Department and the Department of
the Interior. The Strategy establishes an overarching goal of
increasing American jobs by attracting and welcoming 100 million
international visitors annually by the end of 2021, who are estimated
to spend $250 billion while traveling in and getting to the United
States.
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 supports reforming the Visa
Waiver Program to strengthen law enforcement cooperation while
facilitating more efficient trade and tourism to the United States,
securely streamlining visa and foreign visitor processing, and
strengthening and improving infrastructure at ports of entry. These
priorities are reflected in the bipartisan immigration reform
legislation, which was passed by the U.S. Senate.
The
White House recently released a report, The Economic Benefits of
Fixing Our Broken Immigration System, outlining the key benefits to
the U.S. economy of passing commonsense immigration reform, including
boosting the tourism industry. To read the report, please visit the
White House website here.