Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
TABLE 14.3
Impact of Travel on U.S. Economy
Travel Expenditures ($ billions)
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
Direct Expenditures
$585.8
$555.7
$544.9
$560.1
$606.9
$653.7
$695.7
$738.0
$772.5
$704.4
Domestic
503.4
483.8
478.3
495.8
532.4
572.0
610.0
641.3
662.4
610.2
International
a
82.4
71.9
66.6
64.3
74.5
81.7
85.7
96.7
110.1
94.2
a
Not including international passenger fares.
Source: U.S. Travel Association, U.S. Department of Commerce Of
ce of Travel and Tourism Industries.
Travel-Generated Employment (Thousands)
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
7,699.6
a
Direct Travel-
Generated
Employment
7,779.7
7,673.1
7,440.5
7,336.0
7,452.7
7,508.8
7,550.5
7,705.9
7,393.6
Domestic
6,788.4
6,728.6
6,561.6
6,521.2
6,569.3
6,613.9
6,657.0
6,728.5
6,709.2
6,510.0
International
991.3
944.5
878.9
814.8
883.4
894.9
893.5
971.4
996.8
883.6
Source: U.S. Travel Association, U.S. Department of Commerce Of
ce of Travel and Tourism Industries.
in every 12.3 jobs. By 2020, this should grow to 303,019,000 jobs, 9.2 percent of total employment or 1 in
every 10.9 jobs. The 81,913,000 direct travel and tourism industry jobs accounted for 2.5 percent of total
employment in 2008 and are forecast to rise to 104,740,000 jobs or 2.8 percent of the total by 2020.
6
As noted above, tourism provides both direct and indirect employment. Firms such as hotels,
restaurants, airlines, cruise lines, and resorts provide direct employment because their employees are
in contact with tourists and provide the tourist experience. Employees of
firms providing goods and
services to the direct employment
firms, such as aircraft manufacturers, construction
firms, tourism
consultants, and restaurant suppliers, create indirect employment.
The impact of this can be illustrated using a U.S. example. In 2010, the U.S. Travel Association (USTA)
published its annual study, Tourism Works for America, which contains estimates of travel-generated
employment in the United States. As shown in Table 14.3, in 2009 tourism directly generated a total of
about 7.4 million jobs in the U.S. economy. An examination of Table 14.3 also reveals that in 2009, 6.5 of
the 7.4 million direct jobs were due to domestic tourism, with 883,600 generated by international travel.
Thus, while international visitors to the U.S. account for only 3 percent of total U.S. travel, they represent
as much as 13 percent of the U.S. travel-related spending.
Visitors to the U.S. overall spend more than domestic travelers on their travels, on average $2,200
when they visit. And travel and tourism is the largest services sector export of the entire U.S. economy.
It accounts for 8 percent of all U.S. exports (and 25 percent of services sector exports) and continues to
make an outsized contribution to growth in trade, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.
In 2009, the United States was visited by 54.9 million international travelers, down 5.3 percent
from the previous year. Declines are attributed to the adverse effects of a troubled world economy and
challenges in U.S. entry procedures facing inbound travelers. Growth is expected in 2010 (up 2.9
percent) and in each subsequent year through 2013.
Travelers from outside U.S. borders visiting for leisure and business purposes are frequently
segmented into two groups: those from Canada and Mexico (the two largest generators of inbound
travel) and long-haul travelers from overseas markets.
Canada is the number-one source market for travel to the United States, accounting for 33 percent
(18.0 million visitors) of all international travel to the United States in 2009. Visitors from Mexico are
the second largest source of inbound travel, 24 percent of international travel in 2009 (13.2 million).
Visits from Canadian and Mexican travelers were a bright a spot in inbound travel over the past
decade, up 23 percent from 2000, or 5.9 million more North American visitors.
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