WORLD TRADE ON TOUR: INTERNATIONAL VISITORS BOOST U.S. ECONOMY
by Helen Marano
Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary, Tourism Industries Office, Trade Development

The glistening white monuments of Washington, D.C.; fun and amusement in Orlando; the breathtaking panorama of the Grand Canyon: Just three of the many reasons why people are coming to experience America. Traveling to historic places, seeing natural wonders or visiting friends and family is an international past time. Tourism accounts for nearly three percent of the national economy and has grown faster than the economy as a whole.

The U.S. has consistently ranked as one of the top destinations for international travelers and enjoys the highest expenditures of any international destination. International visitors come to see our theme parks, visit relatives, attend business conferences and most importantly, spend money. When international travelers come to the U.S. either for business or pleasure, their activities represent tourism exports. Not only does the growth of the tourism industry help the local and national economy, it also accounts for a large percentage of the trade surplus in the services sector.

Hosting international visitors continues to offer a growing source of jobs for Americans. The tourism industry employs twice as many workers as in agriculture, eight times as many as in mining and three times as many as in communications. During the nineties, international visitor arrivals increased by 33 percent while receipts from tourism soared 102 percent. In 2000, the number of international travelers visiting the United States grew by 5 percent. In 1999, the United States was the leading country in the world for tourism receipts and ranked third behind France and Spain for hosting international travelers.

International travel and tourism is classified as a service export just like freight, insurance, telecommunications, royalties and education. Though exports typically entail sending and selling U.S. goods abroad, the expenditures of international travelers in the U.S. are considered exports. This means that travel and tourism exports are unique and unlike other merchandise and service exports, because the buyer actually travels to the United States to purchase the product. As expenditures are made for activities and facilities in the U.S. during their trip, like lodging, food and beverage, entertainment, attractions and other aspects of their travel experience, the destination embodies one of the products purchased.

In 1999 nearly 49 million international visitors generated $95 billion in receipts, supporting over 1.1 million jobs in the U.S. Indeed, these visitors generated over $11 billion in federal, state and local tax revenues to reinvest in this country and its communities. According to the Department of Commerce, international travel and tourism generated $14 billion in trade surplus in 1999. This marked the tenth consecutive year with a trade surplus in international travel and tourism, having peaked in 1996 at $26.3 billion. Businesses of all sizes host international visitors. It is not necessary to embark on an expensive international marketing campaign alone. State, local, and national resources exist to help attract international visitors.

WHO IS COMING TO SEE AMERICA?

The largest international origin markets for the United States have been Canada (14 million) and Mexico (10 million). Overseas markets, which exclude Canada and Mexico, are the dominant source of growth for the United States, particularly European markets. U.S. tourism destinations have consistently invested in promotional and marketing campaigns focused on attracting European tourists. At the same time, Asia has regained its position in providing strong growth for inbound visitors. Japanese visitors spend more per person and have been responsible for the majority of the travel trade surplus. Latin American markets, particularly South America, offer expanded growth as emerging markets for international visitors to the U.S. Brazil and Venezuela are two of the primary countries of origin and visitors from each country are motivated for different reasons to come to see America.

WHY DO VISITORS COME TO AMERICA?

International visitors journey to the United States for a variety of reasons. The top three purposes for travel to the United States are for vacation (63 percent), with visiting friends and relatives or for a convention or business meeting each representing a third (34 percent). No matter what the reason, visitors pack their trips with activities. During their trips, more visitors report shopping (89 percent) than dining in restaurants (82 percent). International visitors are, in general, almost three times as active as domestic travelers and they are four times as likely to visit amusement or theme parks. Other top activities include sightseeing in cities and visiting historical places. One reason they tend to do so much on each trip is attributed to the length of their stay. Overseas travelers' visits last 15.2 nights on average, versus four nights for domestic travelers.

WHERE DO THEY VISIT IN AMERICA?

In 1999, there were some very interesting shifts in the visitation patterns of overseas travelers to the United States. California became the top state visited by overseas travelers, surpassing Florida. The other top states visited were New York, Hawaii, Nevada, Illinois, Massachusetts, Texas, New Jersey and Arizona. The top ten cities visited were New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, Orlando, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Honolulu, Washington D.C., Chicago and Boston. Many of these destinations are reflective of the top ports of entry into the U.S. as well as the top states visited.

The popularity of the destinations vary by market, however. For instance, the top markets for Japanese travelers are the Hawaiian Islands, California, Guam, Nevada and New York. Brazilians, on the other hand, are primarily hosted by Florida, with New York, California and Illinois following far behind. Some of the popularity is unquestionably directly related to access and capacity of the airlines and routes. The distinctions are also reflective of travelers’ preferences for vacation destination offerings. Some markets will have heavier concentrations of business travelers or larger proportions of travelers visiting friends and relatives which precludes promotional influences, but still makes access and air capacity important.

The largest market, Canada, is served by a slightly different line- up of destinations. The top include New York, Florida, Washington, Michigan, California, Nevada, Maine, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. This clearly demonstrates the influence of being a border state for a border market. Increased access through expanded air routes to Nevada demonstrate the influence this can play in gaining market share.

The economic impact of international visitors to the United States is not only felt by hotels and restaurants where they eat and sleep but also by the businesses where they shop, the historic sights they visit and the transportation services used during their visit. These businesses range from the small family owned restaurant in San Diego to the local retail outlet in Virginia to the rental car company in Cleveland to major attraction companies in Florida.

PRODUCT NICHES

The variety of activities and special preferences of particular market segments offers the opportunity for destinations to enhance or develop new products. This is particularly true for cultural heritage tourism products. The U.S. Department of Commerce served to expand the exposure for these products throughout the U.S. through the American Pathways program. This served as an umbrella for promoting special itineraries throughout the United States that fell under one of five themes, ranging from "Food for the Soul" to "America’s Cultural Mosaic" celebrating the ethnic influences in American "pop culture." Over 101 itineraries and 48 states were highlighted as part of the national Millennium Trails program of the White House. This program gave American destinations the chance to tell their story, to show off their history and heritage and let the traveler experience America.

MARKET NICHES

Developing a targeted marketing campaign geared to attract tourists from a specific origin can be a very resource intensive project. The Travel Industry Association of America (TIA) has established SeeAmerica.org, a website to help consumers and businesses research vacations spots in the United States.

SeeAmerica.org is a fully interactive web portal designed to help consumers looking for detailed information about U.S. destinations. The website offers users a customized page of options. Visitors can search by location, activity and price to find vacation destinations, hotels, attractions and transportation companies. Certainly individual destinations offer their own site locations, but can also gain added exposure through participation in this program.

As part of an aggressive SeeAmerica advertising campaign, TIA is organizing several promotional events, such as trade shows and educational seminars around the world. The SeeAmerica.org web site is part of these campaigns. Themes, such as cultural heritage, are incorporated into the campaign. Localized marketing efforts are focused on three primary markets; the U.K., Japan and Brazil. TIA has local offices in these three markets to offer promotional assistance to U.S. businesses. For more information on these events go to the website www.tia.org.

HOW TO ATTRACT INTERNATIONAL VISITORS

The real challenge is how to get the attention of potential travelers in your target market. Whether you own and operate a bed and breakfast, the newest attraction or the heritage museum in town, it is hard to know which resources will be most economical and efficient in reaching international markets. National Tourism Week will be celebrated May 6 to 12 this year. Tourism awareness programs designed to promote a wider understanding of travel and tourism as a major U.S. industry will be held nationwide.

Local Resources
The grassroots effort for expanding tourism exports comes through the local convention and visitors bureaus (CVBs). These are generally membership organizations funded through the mixture of membership dues (in some circumstances) as well as a portion of the hotel tax in town or through a contract to the city to promote both the tourism and convention business for the destination. CVBs serve as an excellent resource for research and cooperative promotional or marketing campaigns. Marketing internationally is expensive, so the more an establishment can economize and still gain individual exposure, the better the return on that investment.

The other critical arena to pursue is the State Tourism Office. They are similar in their approach and efforts to the CVBs and work closely together to position the state internationally. Both of these entities often have representatives or full offices in the international marketplaces for continued promotional exposure. Many are also involved with in-market Visit USA committees, which are comprised of local representatives of private sector organizations promoting travel to the U.S.

Regional Cooperation
There are also regional tourism marketing organizations across the country designed to gather the combined resources of states, cities and businesses to provide focused campaigns. Discover New England, Foremost West and Travel South are a few that focus on export promotion. Travel South won a U.S. Department of Commerce Market Development Cooperator Program grant, which has assisted them in entering the Brazilian market. Now in the third year of the matching grant program, Travel South has successfully drawn attention to their efforts and has attracted bookings from this lucrative segment of travelers. It has been reported that the Travel South region is now the top preferred destination region for Brazilians.

Trade Promotion
Some of the traditional methods for promoting a destination or product is through trade missions. These are set up to take members of the destination to a target country, like Germany, to meet face to face with travel agents and tour operators who can book the travelers and influence their destination decisions. An even more effective approach is through familiarization (FAM) tours. These are set up by the destination through invitations to the top producing travel agents and tour operators as well as members of the trade press for a specific country, such as Japan. This gives the destination the opportunity to showcase their product firsthand. Generally the airlines, local hotels, restaurants, attractions, local transportation companies and receptive operators collaborate to provide in- kind services and facilities to the group in return for potential new and increased business through future bookings.

The deals are truly made at the trade shows. This is where the "buyer" (tour operator, travel agent) meets the "seller" (hotel, attraction, destination) to develop best price scenarios for potential travelers buying future packages. There are several major travel trade shows held in the U.S. and internationally. Establishments should work with their state, CVB or local Export Assistance Center to see how they can attend or at least be represented.

Marketing via a website has become a key ingredient in the promotional mix of how to expand exports in the travel and tourism industry. The successful sites offer consumer interaction and easy capability to initiate transactions and to make the sale. With the consumer trend to use the Internet to search out travel choices and the growth in independent travelers from top markets such as the U.K. and Japan, it is critical to be promoted through this mode.

Market Research
The first step in any export promotion effort is to do your homework. Find the data that will guide you to the market that is most appropriate for your product. Seek out the industry experts that are there for this purpose. Besides the CVB or the state there are trade specialists in the U.S. Department of Commerce Tourism Industries Office in Washington, D.C. and trade specialists in local U.S. Department of Commerce Export Assistance Offices. Foreign Commercial Service officers are located in 84 countries throughout the world to assist in travel and tourism export expansion efforts. A list of Export Assistance Centers is on the back cover of this publication and foreign offices can be located by calling (800) USA-TRAD(E) or visiting www.usatrade.gov.

The travel and tourism industry generates over $580 billion in revenue for the country. International travel and tourism represents over 16 percent of the pie, but also offers the primary growth potential for the industry. Overall, international travel and tourism is positioned as the top service export for the country, with one- third of the share of all service exports. As a major stimulus for economic growth, international travel and tourism serves as the opportunity for expanded community development and global understanding.

To expand your business, it is critical to think globally. Use the resources in your community to act globally so you can share in hosting the millions of international visitors who travel here to experience the essence of America.

TRADE PROMOTION EVENTS

Discover America International POW
May 5-9, 2001, Orlando, Florida
The International Pow Wow, is the travel industry’s international market place for business. Over 1,000 U.S. travel companies from across all industry category components will conduct business with over 1,550 international buyers representing 70 nations. Participation is limited to TIA members.
Contact: TIA, Betsy O’Rourke, (202) 408-8422, www.tia.org

La Cumbre
September 5-7, 2001, Miami Beach, Florida
This trade conference is the premier event to promote travel to the U.S. from Latin America Contact: Rick Still, (904) 285-3333, www.lacumbre.com

PATA Americas Travel Mart
September 25-28, 2001, Mexico City, Mexico
A carefully balanced educational conference and business forum that facilitates travel from key Pacific Asia nations to the Americas. It is set up as an appointment session-based conference in which suppliers move around the hall to call on travel planners.
Contact: PATA, Email: patm@pata.th.com, www.pata.org

World Travel Mart (WTM)
November 13-16, 2001, London, UK
Europe’s premier travel and tourism industry show, which focuses on the entire world. In 1999, it attracted over 5,000 exhibitors with over 33,000 trade visitors.
Contacts: Belinda McCorkle, (619) 557-5899
Email: Belinda.McCorkle@mail.doc.gov
Gail Del Rosal (44 207) 894-0816
Email: Gail.DelRosal@mail.doc.gov

Japan Association of Travel Agents(JATA) U.S. Pavilion
November 29 - December 1, 2001, Tokyo, Japan
The U.S. Embassy Tokyo is organizing the U.S. Pavilion at JATA Travel Mart, the largest travel trade show in Japan.
Contact: Frank G. Carrico, CS Tokyo, (81 3) 3224-5073
Email: Frank.Carrico@mail.doc.gov,
www.csjapan.doc.gov/ustc/event/jata2001

International Toruism Exchange (ITB)
March 16-20, 2002, Berlin, Germany
The world’s largest travel trade event, attracting more than 7,430 exhibitors from 189 countries, and 111,800 visitors attending in 1999. There were 402 U.S. exhibitors that participated in ITB 99. Contact: Kimdell Lorei, (540) 372-3777, Messe Berlin North America
www.messe-berlin.de/vers2/index.shtml

Tourism Industries Office (TI) serves as the National Tourism Office for the U.S. and provides the most comparable and comprehensive research data/information on international travelers to and from the U.S. The office is dedicated to helping U.S. businesses gain access to and compete in the global marketplace through policy advocacy, research information and technical assistance. New data will be released in April and May. You may sign up for automatic updates through tinews via the website. 1,100 different reports or analyses are produced each year. The data provided by this office is the result of interagency database coordination with the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Tourism Industries works with the Canadian and Mexican governments to provide accurate data on traveler flows and characteristics of visitors from their countries to the U.S. For access to the information available, visit http://tinet.ita.doc.gov Contact: Linda Harbaugh or Vivian Vasallo, or any of the TI staff for assistance at Tel: (202) 482- 0140.

ITA Tourism Industry Team consists of members from ITA worldwide dedicated to help you attain your international goals. Team members can assist in the development of an international marketing strategy, obtaining market research and statistics on international markets, identifying partners or representatives in international markets and provide one-to-one counseling on international markets and the opportunities they hold. All of this is provided by staff in the U.S. and abroad at U.S. Embassies/Consulates. To speak with a trade specialist, visit your local Export Assistance Center or contact Belinda McCorkle Tel: (619) 557- 5899 or Email: Belinda.McCorkle@mail.doc.gov

Showcase Europe highlights Europe as a single market. Commercial Service staff in European countries work with the tourism industry and prepare valuable research that can assist you in your marketing efforts. Commercial Service staff promotes the USA pavilions at major tourism exhibitions and work with Visit USA Committees across Europe to organize Visit-USA seminars and other promotional events. Individual assistance can also be provided to U.S. tourism suppliers in developing travel missions and other marketing events and arranging meetings with tour wholesalers throughout Europe. Contact: Gail DelRosal, Email: Gail.DelRosal@mail.doc.gov, Tel: (44 20) 7409-2927, Fax: (44 20) 7495-2944, web: www.sce.doc.gov

Travel Industry Association of America (TIA) is a Washington D.C.- based non-profit association that represents and speaks for the common interests and concerns of all components of the U.S. travel industry and facilitates travel to and within the U.S. Visit their website www.tia.org. Contact: Betsy O’Rourke or Mark Hoy for assistance at Tel: (202) 408-8422.

The International Association of Convention and Visitor Bureaus (IACVB) represents over 1,100 professional members from over 480 bureaus in 30 countries. IACVB's member bureaus represent all significant travel/tourism-related businesses at the local and regional level. www.iacvb.org; Tel: (202) 296-7888 Fax: (202) 296-7889