Tourism-related sales in US at record high

19 May, 2007

Tourism-related sales in the United States went up by 6.9% to a record high of $1.2 trillion in 2006.

This notwithstanding, travel groups in the private sector are continuing to warn that the United States is losing ground to other countries in the matter of tourism revenues, according to a report in The Washington Times.

Overseas travelers spent $107.4 billion while traveling to the United States and within the country in 2006. This is a rise of 5% from 2005 and breaks a record set in 2000, according to the United States Commerce Department.

Around 51.1 million international tourists visited the United States in 2006 – up by 3% from 2005.

According to United States Commerce Deputy Secretary David A Sampson, the US remains a popular tourist destination for international visitors, and the industry is breaking records.

This is good news for the US economy and the many jobs the American travel and tourism industry supports, he said.

However, the private sector is not that enthusiastic. "The numbers mask what is really going on in our industry," says Roger Dow, president and chief executive officer of the Travel Industry Association, a Washington-based trade group that represents all parts of the travel industry.

All of the increase in international travel in 2006 came from Canadians and Mexicans – the number of Canadian and Mexican tourists to the United States jumping by 8% and 27%, respectively, to 29.4 million.

At the same time, the number of overseas travelers stayed the same at 21.7 million.

Overseas travelers are more important to the travel industry because they tend to stay in the United States longer and spend more money while visiting. For example, international travelers to New York comprise 13% of the total number of tourists to that city, but account for 43% of the tourist spending, according to Roger Dow.

He says that other countries have jacked up their tourism advertising in recent years. While more people all over the world are traveling, the United States’ international market share is not growing as quickly as the share of other countries.

The Travel Industry Association of America complains that international visitors are hesitant to come to the United States because they find the visa process cumbersome and time-consuming, prompting travelers to go to other countries.