US enjoys inbound rebound
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The US is bucking global trends, having shown a strong aggregate gain in international arrivals year-on-year in the first five months of 2008.
According to the US Department of Commerce’s Office of Travel & Tourism Industries (OTTI) the US recorded strong international inbound growth of almost 12% from January to May 2008.
For the 12 months ended May 2008, the US welcomed a record high number of arrivals of close to 52 million.
PATA Director – Strategic Intelligence Centre John Koldowski said a number of factors were influencing the rebound in US inbound, including latent demand for the destination and favourable exchange rates.
“Open skies liberalisation across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans are also beginning to have an effect, and will consolidate demand for travel to the US if upward pressure of jet fuel prices continues to ease,” he said.
The top five overseas markets (excluding Canada and Mexico) so far in 2008 have been the UK, Japan, Germany, France, and Korea. The busiest airports by entry are New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Newark and San Francisco.
“Truly staggering figures come from the spend-side of the equation,” said Koldowski. During May alone international visitors spent US$11.8 billion on travel and tourism related activities, bringing the year-to-date total for 2008 to US$57.4 billion, according to the US Department of Commerce.
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