USTA Survey Shows Drop in Overseas Travel to United States
The U.S. Travel Association (USTA) is offering new ammunition in its battle in Congress to pass a comprehensive U.S. Travel Promotion Act. A new report by the USTA in conjunction with Oxford Economics shows that the drop in overseas travel to the United States since 2000 has cost the U.S. 440,000 jobs and more than $500 billion in total travel-related spending.
According to the report’s analysis of international travel figures, the failure of the United States to keep pace with the growth in international long-haul travel worldwide has cost the nation’s economy: 68.3 million lost visitors, each of whom on average spend well over $4,000 dollars; $509 billion in lost spending, including $214 billion in direct spending and $295 billion in downstream spending at restaurants, retailers and scores of other small businesses; 441,000 lost jobs, direct and indirect, in all regions of the country; $32 billion in lost tax revenue at the federal, state and local levels; and $270 billion in lost trade surplus, as international travel to the U.S. is the country’s largest service export.
“While international travel has been an oasis of opportunity, we’re still lost in the desert,” said Roger Dow, U.S. Travel’s president and CEO. “We can’t afford another lost decade when we’re looking for ways to kick-start the economy and create jobs.”
According to USTA, a projected 2.4 million fewer overseas visitors came to the U.S. in 2009 compared to 2000. This contrasts with the growth in international travel over the decade, which resulted in 46.3 million more international travelers taking long-haul trips in 2009 than in 2000. The projected 2009 results show 23.5 million visitors to the U.S. from overseas, a decline of 7.1 percent compared with the 25.3 million who visited in 2008. U.S. Travel’s projections are based on figures reported by the U.S. Department of Commerce through November.
The survey maintains the U.S. has missed out on a global boom in international travel of historic proportions. According to the latest figures available from the United Nations, international tourist arrivals worldwide grew to 880 million in 2009, up by nearly 200 million since 2000.
International tourism receipts now total $889 billion. More than 80 countries now earn more than $1 billion annually from international tourism. By nearly all measures, international travel is one of the fastest growing, most important segments of the global economy. Meanwhile, overseas visits to the United States have fallen 9 percent from 2000 to 2009.
Indeed, the USTA said the United States has adopted a policy of benign neglect when it comes to competing in the rapidly growing international travel market, even though it knew such growth would occur.
