Overview

Despite the recent global recession, international travel flows have remained high. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, there were a total of 880 million world-wide travelers in 2009, and 940 million in 2010. Within the Americas, the United States remains the top destination. Globally, the United States has been the second most popular destination for the past two years. Nevertheless, there is significant room to grow exports in travel services by increasing the U.S. share of international travelers.The travel and tourism industry plays an important role in achieving the National Export Initiative goal of doubling exports by the end of 2014. In fact, the President's Export Council and the President's Jobs and Competitiveness Council both highlight the benefits of this sector and make recommendations to increase the number of visitors to the United States. Furthermore, the President on January 19, 2012, signed Executive Order 13597, Establishing Visa and Foreign Visitor Processing Goals and the Task Force On Travel Competitiveness.In 2011, 63 million international visitors to the United States accounted for a total of $153 billion in travel and tourism exports, or 25 percent of total U.S. services exports. Spending in the U.S. (travel receipts) totaled $116 billion and passenger fare receipts (spending on U.S. carriers) were $37 billion. Overseas travelers (excluding Canadians and Mexicans by land) to the United States totaled 27.9 million visitors who spent a total of $120 billion, $90 billion of which was for travel receipts and $30 billion on airfare receipts. These expenditures are one of the largest categories of U.S. services exports with leisure travelers being the largest consumers of travel services.Visitors to the United States fall into two categories: those that need a visa to enter and those that do not. Over the past 10 years, travel expenditures of visitors who need a visa to enter the United States have increased by 13 percent. According to the 2009 Survey of International Air Travelers (SIAT), the average duration of leisure trips for visitors to the United States who need a visa is nearly five nights longer that for visa-free visitors. In this brief, we assess the contribution of overseas leisure travelers (except those from Canada and Mexico by land) that need a visa to enter the United States because this group can play an important role in growing exports in U.S. travel services.For calculating travel expenditures it is necessary to carefully account for shares of visa required and visa-free travelers. For example, some residents of non-Visa Waiver Program (VWP) countries hold passports from VWP countries and can travel to the United States visa free. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regulates the Visa Waiver Program, a program under which citizens from participating countries do not require visas for short-term (90 day) leisure travel to the United States. Currently, 36 countries participate in the VWP, and most of the participating countries are developed market economies. While only 20 percent of the countries represented by visitors to the United States are VWP counties, they account for 40 percent of all non-Canadian arrivals. This implies that 60 percent of non-Canadian international travelers require a visa to enter to the United States.

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9781500319038

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