WASHINGTON - U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Stefan M. Selig today announced that a record 75 million international visitors traveled to the United States in 2014, a seven percent increase over 2013. Tourism is America’s largest services export and these exports support 1.1 million U.S. jobs.
“Today’s data show that the United States continues to be the premier destination for international visitors,” Selig said. “It also highlights that we remain on track toward achieving President Obama’s goal of attracting 100 million international visitors to the United States by 2021.”
The U.S. Departments of Commerce and Homeland Security recently sent a report to President Obama on expanding the U.S. travel and tourism industry with a strategy to increase the number of international visitors to the U.S. It provides a way forward to deliver a best-in-class arrivals experience, ensuring that international visitors continue to select the United States as their destination of choice.
Highlights: 2014 International Visitation to the United States
The top inbound markets continued to be Canada and Mexico. U.S. non-resident visits from Canada totaled 23.0 million in 2014, a 1.8 percent decline from the 2013 record. Mexico grew 19 percent, surpassing the record arrivals seen in 2007, reaching 17.3 million visits in 2014.
Annual overseas resident visitation (excluding Canada and Mexico) set a new record in 2014, reaching 34.4 million visitors, up eight percent from 2013. Travel from overseas markets accounted for 46 percent of total international arrivals to the United States in 2014. All top inbound overseas regional markets surpassed 2013 levels, all registering record level visits in 2014.
Sixteen of the top 20 countries registered increases in non-resident visits in 2014. Eight of the top 20 countries registered double-digit increases, with 12 of the top 20 inbound countries registering record level visits in 2014.
In 2014, visitation through the top 15 ports of entry accounted for 83 percent of all overseas visits. The top three ports (New York/JFK, Miami, and Los Angeles) accounted for 41 percent of all overseas arrivals, nearly one percentage point above last year. Thirteen of the top 15 ports posted increases in arrivals in 2014, with four posting double-digit increases.
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