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And International Travelers; Top Ten Rankings |
| WASHINGTON, DC -- November 2, 2005 - According to data excerpted
from the latest edition of the Impact of Travel and Tourism on the U.S.
and State Economies, published by the Travel Industry Association of America
(TIA) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, California ranked number one overall
in terms of total spending by domestic and international travelers, earning
nearly $72 billion in expenditures. Rounding out the top three were Florida
($56.3 billion) and New York ($35.4 billion).
.  These rankings are based on 2003 data�the most recent year for which equally comparable data is available for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. �This is evidence of what an economic powerhouse the travel and tourism industry continues to be in the U.S., despite the challenges faced by the industry the past few years,� remarked Roger Dow, president and chief executive officer of the Travel Industry Association of America. �These data show that travel is extremely valuable in each and every state in the nation�no matter the size of that state or whether it had millions or thousands of visitors.� The rankings change slightly when looking at expenditures made solely
by domestic or international travelers in the United States (charts 2 and
3). The top three states where domestic travelers spent their money were
California ($61.1 billion), Florida ($42.9 billion) and Texas ($31.5 billion).
International travelers spent the most money in Florida ($13.4 billion), followed by California ($10.5 billion) and New York ($7.7 billion). Each state also feels the impact of traveler spending through the subsequent creation of thousands of jobs. The top five states in terms of travel-generated employment in 2003 were California (818,700 jobs); Florida (734,600 jobs); Texas (518,500 jobs); New York (378,500 jobs); and Nevada (342,700 jobs). In a state where tourism is the number one industry, such as Florida, job creation can be tremendous. However, tourism does not have to be a state�s largest industry for the impact to be felt. In the state of Michigan, where tourism is the sixth-largest industry, more than 150,500 jobs were directly attributable to the dollars spent by domestic and international travelers. Overall, the travel and tourism industry ranks as the first-, second-, or third-largest employer in 29 of the 50 states. TIA is the national, non-profit organization representing all components of the $600 billion travel industry. TIA�s mission is to represent the whole of the U.S. travel industry to promote and facilitate increased travel to and within the United States. |
| Contact:
Cathy Keefe
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