Travel Exports Growing Three Times Faster than Other Exports

By Matt Alderton

U.S. travel exports continued to grow in March, even as exports overall declined, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s latest report on international trade.

Released yesterday, the report shows that total U.S. exports of goods and services fell by $1.7 billion, or nearly 1 percent, to $184.3 billion. Travel exports, on the other hand, grew by $93 million, or 6.5 percent, to $14.4 billion — the eighth increase in the past 12 months, according to the U.S. Travel Association.

“The travel industry continues to outperform other exports. So far this year, travel exports are up 5.7 percent compared to the first quarter of 2012, which is more than three-times faster than the 1.8 percent increase in other exports. As a result, the travel industry has generated a fifth (21 percent) of the overall increase in U.S. exports so far this year compared to the same timeframe last year,” U.S. Travel Association Senior Vice President of Research and Economics David Huether said in a statement. “The trade surplus in travel reached $13 billion in the first quarter of 2013, up 24 percent compared to the first quarter of 2012. The March 2013 trade deficit in all goods and services would be 11 percent larger without this travel trade surplus.”

Read full article here from Successful Meetings