International visitors spent a record-breaking $180.7 billion on U.S. travel and tourism-related goods and services in 2013, up more than 9 percent from 2012, according to a 2014 Economic Impact report for the U.S., which was released today by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).
Still, the United States needs to ramp up efforts to enable international visitors to more easily gain visas for short-term business and leisure travel, according to David Scowsill, president and CEO, World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).
Travel and tourism is the strongest "service export" for the U.S. According to WTTC, the sector contributes more than 28 percent of all U.S. service exports and nearly 8 percent of total U.S. exports.
Travel and tourism's direct contribution to the U.S. economy grew by 2.6 percent last year and should increase an additional 3.5 percent this year.
But Scowsill said it's important for the U.S to adopt more policies that enable it to retain its competitive position; "Twelve years ago, the U.S. became risk-averse about letting people in to the country and tourism suffered as a result. However, policies in the last few years, including nearly doubling the visa processing capacity for China and Brazil, eliminating interviews and increasing the efficiency of visa applications for 28 countries last year are great steps in the right direction."
While confirming that visa facilitation is allowing more people to travel to the U.S., Scowsill stressed the economic benefit for the U.S. -- higher international visitor numbers, better tourism receipts and more jobs.
"But visas are still required for a lot of countries and the application procedure for a visa can be grueling," Scowsill added. He noted that any steps to loosen visa requirements will encourage more people to visit and "we fully support the U.S. making improvements in this direction".
Scowsill also emphasized the importance of the U.S. investing heavily in promoting itself to the growing middle class in fast-growing economies: "There is increasing competition for travellers from burgeoning markets such as China, India and Indonesia and America's competitors are not standing still. Investment in promotional activity for Brand USA needs to continue so that these visitors choose the U.S. over other destinations.”
The U.S. also shouldn't inhibit demand through taxation, according to Scowsill. Recent WTTC research for the "Tax Burden on the U.S. Travel & Tourism Sector" shows U.S. travelers pay proportionately more in federal taxes for air travel than they do on alcohol or tobacco - industries whose products are typically taxed at levels designed to discourage their use.
For air travelers, 17 separate federal taxes and fees account for $61 or more than 20 percent of a typical $300 domestic roundtrip ticket. Scowsill says the U.S. would benefit from reviewing its current taxation policies.
"Travel and tourism shoulders a disproportionately higher tax burden relative to the rest of the economy," he said, noting that care should be taken in imposing or increasing any further taxes on the travel and tourism sector.
Continuing to support these three areas alone - travel facilitation, strong promotions and intelligent taxation - "should ensure America's leading competitive position globally and a vital domestic market," Scowsill said.
Visit www.wttc.org for more information on WTTC and its research.