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Thursday, September 18, 2008
US Tourism: Interesting Stats
I wanted to give a little perspective on how much impact the travel industry has on world economies. Two examples I've mentioned before is the impact of tourism in the Caribbean and how a weak US economy is adversely affecting the revenue stream to the islands, and in England the fall of a large travel firm has caused significant worries.

The US is experiencing a number of different stresses on its economy and the travel industry is not nowhere near the top of that list. Despite that, here are some interesting numbers (from the TIAA*) to consider:

Two million fewer overseas travelers visited the United States in 2007 than in 2000. The decline in overseas travel since 9/11 has cost America 46 million visitors, $140 billion in lost visitor spending and $23 billion in lost tax revenue. If the United States had simply kept pace with global travel trends in 2007, an additional 340,000 jobs would have been created in 2007.

In response to this, members of the US Congress are proposing to pass the "Travel Promotion Act" which "...establishes a public-private partnership to promote the United States as a premier international travel destination and communicate U.S. security and entry policies. The bill specifies that travel promotion would be paid for - at no cost to U.S. taxpayers - by private sector contributions and a modest fee on foreign travelers that do not pay $131 for a visa to enter the United States."

It is great that something is being done, but here is the one issue I have with it. "...would be paid for - at no cost to U.S. taxpayers - by private sector contributions and a modest fee on foreign travelers..." There are a couple of barriers to entry which potential tourists take into consideration before traveling and one of them is money. So, my question is, how are you supposed to promote tourism if you are going to charge tourists for it? It seems a little counter intuitive to me.

*TIAA = Travel Industry Association of America
Written at 10:42 AM by Sebastien.
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