Visitation to the United States Up 7 Percent Over 2004

March 20, 2006

Visitation to the United States Up 7 Percent Over 2004
March 20, 2006 – The U.S. Department of Commerce announced that total international travel and tourism exports reached a record level of $104.8 billion in 2005, surpassing the $103.1 billion mark set the year prior to Sept. 11.

Travel-related tourism spending in the United States in 2005 represents a 12 percent increase of $11.5 billion in travel exports over 2004. Additionally, 2005 saw a 7 percent increase in international visitation to the U.S. to 49.4 million visitors.

"Today’s data show that America remains one of the top destinations for international visitors," said Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez. "Collectively, these visitors are spending record levels during their stay, which helps employ more than 8 million Americans."

In 2005, the U.S. saw the highest recorded number of visitors from 58 of the more than 200 countries for which data are available. Travel and tourism exports accounted for 8 percent of all exports and represented 29 percent of all private service exports in 2005, positioning it as the single largest private service export. Last year also marked the 17th consecutive year that the travel and tourism industry has generated a balance of trade surplus. The surplus gained $6 billion over 2004, an increase of 142 percent. It is the second consecutive year the surplus has more than doubled.

To access the 2005 balance of trade data for the travel and tourism industry as well as the 50 Markets for International Arrivals to the United States in 2005 and 2004, visit http://tinet.ita.doc.gov/outreachpages/inbound.general_information.inbound_overview.html.