Tourism Growth US Department of Commerce

In what many consider to be a bold prediction, the U.S. Department of Commerce vis-a-vis the Office of Travel and Tourism Industry (OTTI) projects that international travel to the United States will increase 3% in 2010. This prediction of international tourism growth in 2010 may come as a surprise to many industry insiders. For 2009, a decline of 8% in international travel to the United States is expected.

The consensus among industry leaders is that leisure travel appears to be stabilizing, but business travel is still very much of a concern going into 2010. Air travel costs to Florida have also moderated which is of interest to this Florida oriented travel reviews site. Several new venues in Florid are slated for 2010 which should help boost regional travel.

Further trends culled from the OTTI report indicate that the largest country of origin declines in 2009 are projected to be from Taiwan (17%), Ireland (17%), Sweden (12%), Mexico (12%) and the United Kingdom (12%).

The Irish and UK tourism declines are especially troublesome because these areas add many guests for Florida hotels and vacation homes. Other notable contributors to the local economy include Canadian visitation which is expected to be down 6% for the year. On a previous post, we identified the importance of Canadian tourism to Florida hotels and for the Florida travel market in general. 

As we indicated on a previous post in early 2009, bright spots for travel to the United States continue to include South America. As a region, South America is expected to rise 1% in 2009 with Brazil setting the bar with a 6% increase.

Consult our travel site for Florida travel reviews and coverage of Orlando vacation home news. The upcoming Florida holidays are a great time to enjoy sunshine and some great values on entertainment. In particular, Orlando has some great new venues opening in 2010 including Harry Potter World at Universal.