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Early Numbers Suggest U.S. on Track for Another Year of Record Tourism


Skift Take

Tourism to the U.S. will continue to mirror global growth; the opportunity lies in recognizing and catering to high growth markets in order to maximize the economic benefits.

Tourism to the United States is on track to reach another record year in 2014 with February marking the seventh consecutive month of visitation increases.

International visitors to the U.S. reached 4.5 million in February, a 3 percent increase over the same monty in the previous year, according to the most recent data published by the National Travel and Tourism Office.

In February specifically, visits from Mexico jumped 19 percent, from France 14 percent and from Argentina 9 percent.

In the first two months of 2014, the greatest tourism growth has come from the Chinese market whose visitation numbers jumped 17 percent -- driven largely by a spike in January.

As usual, Mexico and Canada drive the highest volume of tourists to the United States.

Country of Residence % Change Feb 14 v. 13 % Change YTD FeB 14 v. 13
Canada -2% -1%
Mexico 19% 13%
Japan -18% -11%
United Kingdom -1% 1%
Brazil 8% 5%
People's Republic of China (EXCL HK) -4% 17%
Germany 2% 3%
France 14% 12%
South Korea -10% 2%
Argentina 9% 10%

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