Obama's Travel and Tourism Speech Today at 12:30 EST

Today at 12:30 p.m. EST President Obama plans to unveil a new travel and tourism strategy for the U.S. during a speech at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. In advance of the speech, the U.S. Travel Association has taken the opportunity to release a few key facts and figures about the U.S. travel industry. Based on 2010 data, the industry:

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.
Supported 14 million jobs, including 7.4 million directly in the travel industry and 6.7 million in other industries.

"Every 35 international visitors we welcome to the U.S. generates one American job that can't be outsourced," said Roger Dow, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association. "We look forward to working with the Administration to improve policies that would bring more international travelers to the U.S., as well as increase the facilitation of travelers within the U.S."

Keep visiting www.travelagentcentral.com for updates on the President’s speech and what it means for the industry.