Tourism-Related Sales Up In The United States; Sales Exceed Fourth Quarter 2000

June 14, 2004

Tourism-Related Sales Up In The United States; Sales Exceed Fourth Quarter 2000
June 14, 2004 –Tourism-related sales in the United States hit $757.7 billion in the first quarter of 2004, up 11% from the first three months of 2000, according to the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Statistics.

According to the BES release, this recovery in tourism sales is attributable to mixed growth in the two largest tourism industries, air transportation and hotels and lodging places, and strong growth in other tourism industries such as eating and drinking places, amusement and recreation services, and motion pictures and other entertainment.

BES figures revealed that the airline and lodging sectors declined slightly in their sales percentages. "As a result, the combined sales of air transportation and hotels and lodging places, which accounted for 59% of total tourism sales at the fourth quarter 2000 peak, now account for 52% of total tourism sales in the first quarter of 2004," the BES said.

The BES did observe that direct sales of air transportation, and hotels and lodging grew 18.6% and 10.9%, during the first quarter of 2004, as did direct sales at eating and drinking establishments [up 14.2%], and amusement and recreation services [up 18.2%].

For the complete report, visit http://www.bea.doc.gov/bea/newsrel/tournewsrelease.htm