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Central America is the fastest growing destination for American tourists


Skift Take

It turns out that nearly half of US citizens are headed outside the country when traveling and visiting far-away destinations in greater numbers, which helps dispel the common notion that Americans aren't well traveled.

The latest numbers from the US government’s Office of Travel and Tourism Industry (OTTI) show that overseas travel by Americans is growing in in all of the eight regions it has identified, with Central America, Middle East and Asia growing the fastest.

According to the latest numbers published by the OTTI, a total of 23 million US citizens traveled outside their country during the first five months of 2012, with 49 percent of them going to overseas locations and 51 percent traveling within North America.

The fastest-growing destinations were Central America, the Middle East and Asia. During the first five months of the year, a total of 1 million US passengers visited Central America, 15 percent more compared to the same period in 2011.

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