U.S. Travel Expenditures Hit $600 Billion For The First Time
Building on the travel recovery that began last year, a relatively healthy economy, and a favorable exchange rate, Americans and international visitors are traveling and spending more in the U.S., according to the Travel Industry Association of America’s (TIA) Annual Travel Forecast.
Building on the travel recovery that began last year, a relatively healthy economy, and a favorable exchange rate, Americans and international visitors are traveling and spending more in the U.S., according to the Travel Industry Association of America’s (TIA) Annual Travel Forecast.
In 2004 overall travel expenditures for both U.S. residents and international visitors surpassed the $600 billion mark for the first time, and the 2005 forecast is a healthy 5.6 percent increase, pushing the total travel expenditures number to $633.5 billion.
“Increasing travel demand is benefiting most sectors of the travel industry,” remarked Dr. Suzanne Cook, senior vice president of research for the Travel Industry Association of America, “and with it has come a corresponding increase in U.S. travel expenditures by both domestic and international travelers.”
A weak dollar overseas continues to help bring more international visitors to the U.S. Spending by international visitors is predicted to increase 9.6 percent in 2005, reaching $81.9 billion, and a total of 49.1 million international visitors are expected to come to the U.S. in 2005, up 6.5 percent from 2004. While these figures are encouraging there is room for growth as visitation is still below 2000 levels and worldwide market share decreased 36 percent between 1992 and 2004.
Spending by U.S. residents continues to rise—a 5 percent increase is forecast for 2005—bringing the domestic spending figure to $551.6 billion. Domestic person-trips, however, will experience a more moderate increase of 2.2 percent over 2004, bringing the total domestic travel volume forecast to 1.19 billion person-trips for 2005.
Business travel has seen one of the most dramatic turnarounds. After several years of decline, business travel continues to improve with a 3 percent increase predicted for 2005 to nearly 150 million person-trips. This comes after an impressive 5 percent increase in 2004. On the leisure travel side, Americans are forecasted to take 961 million domestic leisure person-trips in 2005, up 2 percent over 2004.
Travelers are taking to the skies again as improved business travel is helping boost air travel. Building on a 2004 recovery, air travel is predicted to see a 3.5 percent increase in 2005, taking air travel volume to 200 million air person-trips. Auto travel, the most popular mode of travel, continues to experience modest growth with over 960 million auto person-trips expected in 2005, nearly 2 percent more than in 2004.