U.S. Travel and Tourism Spending Strengthens in 2Q15
Real spending on travel and tourism was up by 6.5%
(seasonally adjusted annualized rate) during the second quarter of 2015. This
followed an increase of 2.2% in the first quarter. In comparison, real gross
domestic product increased by 3.7% during the second quarter. The Bureau of
Economic Analysis tracks the travel and tourism industry in the United States
because it is an important source of jobs and economic activity, particularly
here in Southern California. Additionally, foreign visitors traveling to the
U.S. are an important source of export revenue.
Total direct spending on travel-related goods and
services was $827.2 billion during the second quarter of this year compared
with $814.2 billion in the previous quarter. Spending on passenger air
transportation jumped by 11.6%; food services and drinking places expenditures
increased by 7.2%; recreation and entertainment was up by 3.5% and shopping
increased by 4.3%.
Overall prices for travel and tourism goods and
services were up by 1.0% in the second quarter after declining by 8.7% during
the first quarter. Prices for recreation, entertainment and shopping were
collectively up by 1.5%, while prices at restaurants rose by 2.5%. The largest
jump in prices was for non-air transportation (car rentals, gasoline), which
increased by 16.5%. These gains were largely offset by lower prices for air
travel (-9.7%) and accommodations (-7.7%).
The travel and tourism industry has also been a
source of steady job growth since the second quarter of 2010. Direct employment
in this sector increased by 1.6% during the second quarter of 2015 after
expanding by 2.1% in the previous quarter. With the exception of
accommodations, where employment fell by 1.0%, jobs increased across the
industry. Transportation employment increased by 2.8%, food services payrolls
expanded by 2.3%; tourism-related jobs in recreation, entertainment and
shopping increased by 2.8%. During the second quarter, over 5.6 million workers
were employed in the U.S. travel and tourism industry, which equated to about
4% of all nonfarm payroll jobs in the U.S.
No comments:
Post a Comment