U.S. Travel and Tourism Fun Facts

Did you know that travel and tourism generates $115 billion in tax revenue for local,
state and federal governments? If you place 115 billion one dollar bills end-to-end, they would circle the world 438 times.

Did you know that direct travel-generated payroll totals $189 billion and that 1 out of
every 8 American jobs is created directly, indirectly or is induced by travel and tourism?

Did you know that the travel and tourism industry is one of America’s largest service
exports? International travelers spent more on their visits to the United States than U.S. residents spent while traveling abroad, creating a trade surplus of $17.6 billion for the U.S. in 2007.

Did you know that spending by resident and international travelers in the U.S. averaged $2 billion a day, $84.3 million an hour, $1.4 million a minute, and $23,400 a second?

Did you know that just a 1 percent increase in U.S. worldwide market share would
equate to 8.8 million more visitors, $15 billion more in expenditures, 153,000 new jobs, $3.9 billion more in payroll, and $2.4 billion more in federal, state and local tax revenue?

Note: 2007 preliminary data, updated April 2009 provided by the Tourist Industry of America