TI News: An information service from Office of Travel & Tourism Industries (OTTI)

March 14, 2007

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Introduces New Travel & Tourism Statistic

Washington – The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) International Price Program has introduced a new monthly price index measuring export travel & tourism services. The Export Travel & Tourism Price Index measures price changes for lodging, food and beverage, entertainment, local transportation, gifts and souvenirs, and other goods and services purchased in the United States by foreign visitors. The indexes are lagged by one month and published according to the visitor’s country of residence. One of the data sources for the index is the U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Travel & Tourism Industries' Survey of International Air Travelers.

The index is published in the U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes economic news release, available from the BLS Internet site at: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ximpim.pdf (see Table 9). A Fact Sheet describing construction of the index is available at: http://www.bls.gov/mxp/ettfact.pdf.

For further information regarding the Export Travel & Tourism Price Index or other U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes, please see http://www.bls.gov/mxp. The International Price Program may also be contacted at (202) 691-7101 or mxpinfo@bls.gov.