WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Commerce yesterday announced that international visitors spent an estimated $13.7 billion on travel to, and tourism-related activities within, the United States during the month of March - an increase of more than $1.5 billion, or 13 percent, from March 2011. Year-to-date,
“Today's data shows that America remains
a top destination for international visitors,” said Under Secretary of Commerce
for International Trade Francisco Sánchez. “The travel and tourism industry -
our number one services export - has enjoyed 27 consecutive months of
uninterrupted growth. Commerce will continue working to support this critical
industry, which creates millions of American jobs. Those efforts include
carrying out initiatives recently unveiled in the Administration’s National
Travel and Tourism Strategy to increase travel and tourism to the United States .”
The data announced today include
purchases of travel and tourism-related goods and services by international
visitors traveling in the U.S. ,
which totaled a record-breaking $10.4 billion in March, an increase of nearly
12 percent from 2011. These goods and services include food, lodging,
recreation, gifts, entertainment, local transportation, and other items
incidental to foreign travel. Fares received by U.S.
carriers and U.S.
vessel operators from international visitors increased nearly 16 percent to a
historic high of $3.3 billion in March. This represents an increase of nearly
$450 million when compared to March 2011, and resulted in a $350 million trade
surplus for passenger fares.
The U.S.
travel and tourism industry is a substantial component of U.S. GDP, exports and
employment, and efforts to make America
the top tourist destination in the world offer a tremendous opportunity to
create jobs and strengthen the U.S.
economy. International spending on U.S. travel and tourism-related
goods and services set an all-time record of $153 billion in 2011, an 8.1
percent increase from 2010, and supported an additional 103,000 jobs for a
total of 7.6 million industry jobs. These positive trends confirm the historic
progress we are making on the path to achieving the President’s National Export
Initiative goal of doubling U.S.
exports by the end of 2014.