For Immediate Release: November 20, 2012
Contact: Tim Truman (202) 482-3809
International Travel and Tourism Buoys Record September Exports Figure
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Commerce announced today that international visitors spent an estimated $13.9 billion on travel to, and tourism-related activities within, the United States during the month of September—$512 million more (4 percent) than was spent in September 2011. These strong numbers helped the U.S. see its highest overall September exports figures on record.
“The U.S. travel and tourism industry is helping to drive the success of U.S. exports as increased numbers of international visitors come to our shores, stay in our hotels, eat in our restaurants, and support our local businesses,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Francisco Sánchez. “The U.S. tourism industry is on pace for yet another record-setting year and represents our fastest growing private services export sector through the first three quarters of 2012. As this Administration continues to put forward policies to strengthen our economy, we are committed to supporting travel and tourism, creating jobs in this important sector, and making America the top destination for international travelers.”
Purchases of travel and tourism-related goods and services by international visitors traveling in the United States totaled $10.7 billion during September, an increase of more than five percent when compared to last year. These goods and services include food, lodging, recreation, gifts, entertainment, local transportation in the United States, and other items incidental to foreign travel.
International visitors have spent an estimated $123.1 billion on U.S. travel and tourism-related goods and services year to date (January through September), an increase of nearly eight percent when compared to the same period last. Additionally, U.S carriers have received nearly $29.3 billion from international visitors during the first nine months of 2012, the strongest year-to-date performance on record.
Exports of travel and tourism have shown the largest export dollar growth of any services sector with exports up $8.9 billion through the third quarter of 2012 (compared to the same months of 2011). Among goods and services, travel and tourism was the third largest export growth category in terms of dollars through the first three quarters of 2012 behind capital goods and automotive vehicles and parts.
All of these numbers underscore the importance of the travel and tourism industry to the U.S. economy – and the Administration’s efforts to attract more international visitors to the United States – including welcoming them when they arrive. That is why in January, President Obama signed an Executive Order and announced new administrative initiatives to significantly increase travel and tourism in the United States. This effort includes the National Travel and Tourism Strategy, which the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Interior presented to the president in May, as a blueprint to increase international travel to the United States in order to build on this growing sector of the economy. The strategy lays out concrete steps to be taken in five key areas, in addition to the goal of increasing international visitors to the United States. As part of those efforts, the Commerce Department is continuing to supply the travel and tourism industry with important data, including international arrivals to the United States, the forecast of international travel to America for more than 30 countries, and estimates of the total impact of travel and tourism on the economy, among other services.
For more information, visit http://tinet.ita.doc.gov/.
###
International Trade Administration
The International Trade Administration (ITA) is the premier resource for American companies competing in the global marketplace. ITA has 2,100 employees assisting U.S. exporters in more than 100 U.S. cities and 77 countries worldwide. For more information on ITA visit www.trade.gov.
The International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, manages this global trade site to provide access to ITA information on promoting trade and investment, strengthening the competitiveness of U.S. industry, and ensuring fair trade and compliance with trade laws and agreements. External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views or privacy policies contained therein. This site contains PDF documents. A PDF reader is available from Adobe Systems Incorporated.