Travel Facts

Travel and tourism is one of America’s largest industries

• Generated $1.8 trillion in economic output, with $759 billion spent directly by domestic and international travelers that spurred an additional $1 trillion in other industries.
• Directly generated $118 billion in tax revenue for local, state and federal governments.
• Each U.S. household would pay $1,000 more in taxes without the tax revenue generated by the travel and tourism industry.
• Direct spending by resident and international travelers in the U.S. averaged $2 billion a day, $86.6 million an hour, $1.4 million a minute and $24,000 a second.

Travel and tourism is America’s largest services export industry

• $134 billion in travel exports (including traveler spending in the U.S. and international passenger fare payments to U.S. carriers) and the...
• $103 billion in travel imports (including U.S. resident spending abroad and international passenger fares paid to foreign carriers) creates...
• $32 billion in balance of travel trade surplus for the U.S.

Travel and tourism is one of America’s largest employers

• Supported 14 million jobs, including 7.4 million directly in the travel industry and 6.7 million in other industries.
• 1 out of every 9 jobs in the U.S. depends on travel and tourism.
• Generated $188 billion in payroll for those employed directly in U.S. travel.
• Travel is among the top 10 industries in 48 states and D.C. in terms of employment.

Note: 2010 data, updated December 2011

Fun Facts

Did You Know

...that travel and tourism is a $759 billion industry that generates a total of $1.8 trillion in economic output in the United States? If one dollar bill equaled a second of time, then $1.8 trillion would equal more than 56,000 years.

Did You Know

...that travel and tourism generates $118 billion in tax revenue for local, state and federal governments? If you place 118 billion one dollar bills end-to-end, they would circle the world 458 times.

Did You Know

...that each U.S. household would pay $1,000 more in taxes without the tax revenue generated by the travel and tourism industry? $1,000 will buy about eight weeks of groceries for a family of four and will fill the average car with gas 18 times (assuming a 20-gallon tank at $2.83/gal - AAA yearly average for U.S.)

Did You Know

...that the travel and tourism industry supports 14.1 million jobs: 7.4 million directly in the travel industry and 6.7 million in other industries? You could fill the Louisiana Superdome more than a 101 times over with people directly employed in travel.

Did You Know

...that direct travel-generated payroll totals $188 billion and that 1 out of every 9 American jobs is dependent on travel and tourism?

Did You Know

...that at $134 billion, the travel and tourism industry is America’s largest export industry, bigger than the domestic exports of machinery, computers and electronics, or agriculture? International travelers spent more on their visits to the United States than U.S. residents spent while traveling abroad, creating a trade surplus of $32 billion for the U.S. in 2010.

Did You Know

...that direct spending by resident and international travelers in the U.S. averaged $2 billion a day, $86.6 million an hour, $1.4 million a minute and $24,000 a second?

Did You Know

...that just a one percent increase in U.S. worldwide market share would equate to 9.3 million more visitors, $21 billion more in direct expenditures, 158,000 new jobs, $4.2 billion more in payroll and $2.5 billion more in federal, state and local tax revenue?

Note: 2010 data, updated December 2011