U.S. Sets Records for Travel Abroad

July 1, 2008

U.S. Sets Records for Travel Abroad
July 1, 2008 – The Office of Travel & Tourism Industries is reporting that the United States set a record for traveling aboard in 2007, for the fourth straight year. According to the study, the overall U.S. outbound market grew by one percent in 2007 compared to annual 2006 figures. In 2007, 64 million U.S. residents traveled abroad, surpassing the 2006 record of 63.6 million.

OTTI reports that this growth was based on travel overseas, with 31.2 million travelers, up four percent. Travel to Mexico and Canada declined by one percent and three percent, respectively.

Spending by U.S. residents traveling abroad also set the fourth successive record in 2007 at $104.7 billion, up five percent from 2006. Spending by U.S. travelers within foreign countries totaled $76.2 billion and spending on air transportation, via foreign air carriers, totaled $28.5 billion in 2007.

The top five countries where U.S. spent their 2007 travel dollars were: Mexico ($11.1 billion), United Kingdom ($10.5 billion), Canada ($7.6 billion), Germany ($5.9 billion) and Japan ($4.7 billion).

U.S. travelers set records for 2007 travel spending in: Mexico, Germany, Japan, Italy, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Australia, Netherlands, Argentina, and South Africa.

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