International visitors spent $221 billion experiencing United States in 2014
TBN Post —
Washington – International visitors spent $220.8 billion experiencing the United States in 2014 , an increase of 3 percent when compared to the previous year. These travel and tourism exports accounted for 31 percent of all U.S. services exports and 9 percent of all U.S. exports, goods and services alike.
The U.S. Department of Commerce recently announced that international visitors spent an estimated $18.2 billion on travel to, and tourism-related activities within, the United States during the month of September( 2015) , an ever-so-slight increase of less than 1 percent when compared to September 2014 and only the third time this year in which monthly spending was higher than last year.
Purchases of travel and tourism-related goods and services by international visitors traveling in the United States totaled $11.2 billion during September, an increase of more than 3 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. Travel receipts accounted for 62 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports during September 2015.
Fares received by U.S. carriers from international visitors totaled $3.1 billion for the month, a decrease of nearly 15 percent when compared to September 2014. Passenger fare receipts accounted for 17 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports during September.
Likewise ,expenditures for educational and health-related tourism, along with all expenditures by border, seasonal, and other short-term workers, totaled $3.9 billion in September, an increase of more than 9 percent when compared to the same period last year.
Medical tourism, education, and short-term worker receipts accounted for 21 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports during September 2015.
Year-to-date international visitor spending totaled $163.5 billion (January through September 2015), a decrease of 1 percent when compared to same period last year.
Conversely, U.S. residents have spent $115.9 billion traveling abroad year to date, an increase of more than 7 percent. As a result, the United States ran a $47.6 billion trade surplus for travel and tourism through September 2015.
April 2015 marked the 16th consecutive month of growth in total U.S. visits since January 2014. 6.5 million international visitors traveled to the United States in April, up 0.4% compared to April 2014.
Source: travel.trade.gov/ National Travel and Tourism Office November 18, 2015
