Travel and Tourism exports on pace for record-setting 2016
WASHINGTON – Acting Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Ken Hyatt announced today that international visitors spent nearly $21.1 billion experiencing the United States in November, an increase of two percent ($414 million) when compared to November 2015.
"Despite the decline in fuel prices, which has translated into a material decline in passenger fare exports year to date, U.S. travel and tourism exports are still on pace to set another record in 2016" said Hyatt. "Today's data highlights the resiliency of this vital industry and its importance to the U.S. economy. International visitors spent, on average, $703 million a day on travel and tourism services in the United States in November alone."
International visitors have spent $225.9 billion on U.S. travel and tourism-related goods and services year to date (January through November), a slight increase over record-breaking levels of spending last year; conversely, Americans have spent an estimated $145.3 billion abroad, yielding a balance of trade surplus of more than $80.5 billion year to date.
Monthly Summary
- Travel Receipts: Purchases of travel and tourism-related goods and services by international visitors traveling in the United States totaled $13.2 billion during November, an increase of 1 percent when compared to November 2015. 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 in November.
- Passenger Fare Receipts: Fares received by U.S. carriers from international visitors totaled $3.3 billion for the month, a decrease of 4 percent when compared to November 2015. Passenger fare receipts accounted for 16 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports in November.
- Medical/Education/Short-Term Worker:Expenditures for educational and health-related tourism, along with all expenditures by border, seasonal, and other short-term workers, totaled nearly $4.6 billion in November, an appreciable increase of nearly 11 percent when compared to the same period last year. Medical tourism, education, and short-term worker receipts accounted for 22 percent of total U.S. travel and tourism exports in November.
(1) In June 2014 the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) completed the most comprehensive restructuring of the U.S. international economic accounts since 1976 in an effort to bring our international accounts into closer conformity with international guidelines. As a result, BEA now uses a broader definition of travel that includes education-related and health-related travel and expenditures on goods and services by border, seasonal, and other short-term workers. Therefore, all travel and tourism-related trade data have been revised back to 1999. To learn more, please visit:http://travel.trade.gov/pdf/restructuring-travel.pdf
