U.S. travel exports to rebound in 2010

Posted May 26th 2009 3:00PM by Tom Johansmeyer
Filed under: Good news, Industry, Competitive Strategy, Economic Data

How can exports not rebound? Last year ended on a sour note after posting record results, and 2009 is by all accounts likely to be ugly. The tourism and travel industry is expected to shed more than 200,000 jobs this year. Fortunately, there's a light at the end of the tunnel. The U.S. Department of Commerce expects international visits to the United States to come back in 2010 – after its first forecasted year of decline (i.e., 2009) since 2003.

This year, international travel to the United States is expected to fall 8%. The following year, however, U.S. travel exports are expected to gain 5%, with 5% annual increases through the end of 2013. We'll come out ahead in all this, but it's going to take some time.

Will the influx of foreign visitors over the next four years be enough to turn the travel industry in the United States around? It's too soon to tell right now, and much will depend on the contributions made by domestic routes. Needless to say, even this glimmer of hope must be welcome to investors committed to the airline and hotel sectors.

Tags: airline, airline industry, airline sector, AirlineIndustry, airlines, AirlineSector, department of transportation, DepartmentOfTransportation, export, exports, hotel, hotels, international travel, internationaltravel, inthenews, tourism, tourism and travel, tourism industry, TourismAndTravel, TourismIndustry, travel, travel industry, travel stocks, TravelIndustry, TravelStocks