Spending by international visitors to the usa in January 2013 outpaced January 2012 levels by nearly 11 percent, in accordance with data recently released by the International Trade Administration (ITA). International visitors spent an estimated $14.4 billion on travel to, and tourism-related activities within, the us in the course of the month.
“Record-setting growth within 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 inside the United states of america by international travelers contributed to $2.2 trillion in overall U.S. exports – the top level in our country’s history. But there’s more work to do. For this reason we’re working everyday to implement the National Travel and Tourism Solution to attract more visitors to our shores and support the nearly eight million Americans employed on this critical industry.”
Purchases of travel and tourism-related goods and services by international visitors traveling within the U.s.a. totaled $10.9 billion during January, a rise of greater than 10 percent compared to last year. These goods and services include food, lodging, recreation, gifts, entertainment, local transportation within the Country, and other items incidental to foreign travel. Fares received by U.S. carriers (and U.S. vessel operators) from international visitors also increased by greater than 11 percent to $3.5 billion for the month, a rise of $355 million when put next to January 2012. Overall, the usa enjoyed a positive balance of trade for the month of January within the travel and tourism sector, with a surplus of $4.6 billion.
The January international travel and tourism spending data builds at the strong report recently released by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of commercial Analysis (BEA), which showed that for, employment inside 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, a rise of two.1 percent when put next to the former year. About 5.5 million (71 percent) of those positions were direct tourism jobs — jobs where workers produce goods and services sold on to visitors — while 2.2 million (29 percent) were indirect tourism-related jobs — jobs where workers produce goods and services used to supply what visitors purchase.
Increasing U.S. travel and tourism can not come on the expense of national security. The President’s plan for commonsense immigration reform incorporates a selection 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 bolster law enforcement cooperation while facilitating more efficient trade and tourism to the us, securely streamlines visa and foreign visitor processing, facilitates public-private partnerships aimed toward increasing investment in foreign visitor processing, and strengthens and improves infrastructure at ports of entry.