It’s back to the drawing board for the US Travel Association. The travel industry trade group reported this week that the flow of visitors to the United States from three key foreign sources, Japan, China and Mexico, fell in 2013 from 2012 levels.
From a group statement:
Total visitors to the United States dropped by 1.2 percent in 2013, compared to the year before. Visits from China fell by 4.4 percent, visits from Mexico by 3.3 percent and visits from Japan by 7.8 percent. We know that political rhetoric that casts travelers as unpatriotic, homicidal and un-American doesn’t do anything to help a strong economy. Unfortunately, we must now add political rhetoric that only makes our export dollars worth less.
Meanwhile, other travel groups, including the International Air Transport Association, have been noting that a revival in passenger and freight travel is slowly becoming evident, as is the first uptick in airline spending in nine months.