April 8, 2014
WASHINGTON: The number of Indian tourists visiting the US is likely to cross one million in 2015 and Indian visitors will register the third fastest growth after Chinese and Columbians from 2013 to 2018, a US report has said.
The report says India could add 461,000 additional visitors (an increase of 54 per cent) to US by 2015.
April 8, 2014
WASHINGTON: The number of Indian tourists visiting the US is likely to cross one million in 2015 and Indian visitors will register the third fastest growth after Chinese and Columbians from 2013 to 2018, a US report has said.
The report says India could add 461,000 additional visitors (an increase of 54 per cent) to US by 2015.
The department of commerce in its latest report on international visitors and their projections, said 69.8 million international visitors travelled to the US in 2013, generating a record $181 billion in receipts and a $57 billion trade surplus.
The number of Indian tourists visiting the US is likely to cross one million in 2015, it said.
All top-20 visitor origin countries are forecast to grow from 2013 through 2018.
Countries with the largest total growth percentages are China (139 per cent), Colombia (56 per cent), India (54 per cent), Taiwan (52 per cent), Brazil (50 per cent) and Argentina (48 per cent).
Four countries are expected to account for 59 per cent of the projected growth from 2013 through 2018.
These volume growth leaders are Canada (23 per cent of expected total growth), China (18 per cent), Mexico (11 per cent), and Brazil (7 per cent).
China is expected to increase a total of 2.5 million visitors, or 139 per cent, through to 2018 and produce the second-largest number of additional visitors behind Canada.
India could add 461,000 additional visitors (an increase of 54 per cent), while South Korea should produce an additional 375,000 visitors (an increase of 28 per cent).
In 2013, international visitor tourism spending increased 9.1 per cent from 2012, supporting 1.3 million jobs.
According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, a total of 8 million jobs are supported, directly and indirectly, by US travel and tourism.
US commerce secretary Penny Pritzker said the US can expect four per cent average annual growth in tourism during the next five years and a record 72.2 million foreign travellers are projected to visit the United States in 2014 alone.
The Spring 2014 Forecast for International Travel, released semi-annually by the US commerce department's international trade administration, predicts continued strong growth through till 2018 following four consecutive years of record visitor volume.
"A record number of international visitors continue to choose the United States as their travel destination, which is contributing to our economic growth and supporting millions of jobs," Pritzker said.
"The Obama Administration is committed to building on this success and meeting the challenge President Obama laid out in his national travel and tourism strategy to welcome 100 million international visitors to the United States and grow our economy by $250 billion by 2021," the commerce secretary said.
Courtesy: PTI
